Monte Clark (1978-1984) 43 wins 61 losses
Darryl Rogers (1985-1988) 18 wins 40 losses
Wayne Fontes (1988-1996) 66 wins 67 losses
Bobby Ross (1997-2000) 27 wins 30 losses
Gary Moeller (2000) 4 wins 3 losses
Marty Morninweg (2001-2002) 5 wins 27 losses
Steve Mariucci (2003-2005) 15 wins 28 losses
Dick Jauron (2005) 1 win 4 losses
Rod Marinelli (2006-2008) 10 wins 38 losses
Jim Schwartz (2009-2013) 29 wins 51 losses
Jim Caldwell (2014-2017) 36 wins 28 losses
11 of them. Sure a couple filled in for fired coaches. Yet the Detroit Lions have gone through 11 head coaches since I began watching them.
Several things go into this factor. GM’s of these teams did not put enough talent on the field. Injuries are part of the game that is not an excuse but depth is very important. Not to mention some of the coaching choices were flat out head scratchers.
Flash forward to the now. Bob Quinn is now the GM architect. Brought in from the New England Patriot. The benchmark for successful football teams. He was handed a very good (in my lifetime the best) Lions quarterback in Matthew Stafford. He fixed the offensive line and drafted and signed extremely talented receivers. The time to win is now he said January one as he announced Jim Caldwell had be relieved of his coaching duties.
Now to avoid adding a twelfth coach to the grave yard list after a few seasons Quinn in perhaps his most telling moment of his young GM career must pick a slam dunk head coach. He has put championships as the only accpetable goal moving forward. This is new and refreshing talk from a Detroit Lions GM to date.
It will be interesting if he can deliver on his large aspirations.
