Famous last words from Rod Marinelli: "Kitna's the starter next year"

I just don't get the Sarge. Either he's clueless, stubborn, hard-headed, insane, loyal to a fault, or a combination thererof. There's is no other explanation for his blind devotion to Jon Kitna as the Lions' starting QB. Such loyalty would normally be commendable, if it wasn't so self-destructive to the Lions chances.

Doesn't he see the interceptions? The fumbles? The bad reads? THE 10 LOSSES?

I'm not going to say that Kitna is the sole reason for the 10 losses. In fact, Kitna has played well, quite well, at times. Those times being in the 1st thru 3rd quarters. But in too many games he has become a 4th quarter turnover machine, Sunday's Patriots loss being the latest example.

Kitna would be a nice QB on a team that can surround him with good talent. On the free of talent Lions though, Kitna is rapidly becoming a liability. At least 2 losses can be directly attributed to his poor late game play. Kitna, and his 4 th quarter collapses in Minnesota and New England, was the main culprit in both those losses.

In 8 of the Lions' 10 games, Kitna has had 2 or more turnovers. In 7 games, Kitna has more turnovers than TD passes.

That's not a recipe for winning football. But it is Lions football as we've come to know and despise.

The Sarge has put all his eggs in Kitna's basket. When your 2nd string QB is getting on the field only as the number 3 receiver, which is laughable in itself, it's blatantly obvious that Marinelli wants Kitna under center, come Hell, high water, blitzing linebackers, or pissed off Millen haters.

It's that kind of strange decision making that makes me wonder if the Sarge is the Lions long term coaching solution.

The Lions have been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs after Sunday's loss. We all know that the season was over long before then. So why not see what you have in Josh McCown or Dan Orlovsky? They couldn't be any worse than Kitna, right? I'm sorry, I lost my head for a sec. We are talking the Lions, they could definitely be worse.

Even if he benches Kitna, and either Orlovsky or McCown play badly, it's not as if Marinelli's job is in jeopardy. If Millen is retained as GM, God forbid, it's a foregone conclusion that the Sarge will be back in 2007. If Millen gets the ziggy, then it doesn't make much difference what happens on the field, as Millen's replacement (Please God, let it happen) will want his own man on the sidelines.

Despite that, the Sarge has dug in his heels, and will go down with the Kitna led ship.

The beat writers say that the players like Kitna because of his toughness, that's he's a "Gamer," the antithesis of Joey Blue Skies. You'd think they'd rather have a QB that didn't fold like a cheap card table late in games.

As the losses continue to add up, it seems like the Lions have become good at least one thing. Taking blame for defeats.

Marinelli continually says that he's to blame, that it's all on him. Kitna said that Sunday's loss was all his fault. That's all well and good, but it doesn't change the fact that the Lions are sinking fast, and are on the fast track to the NFL's number 1 overall draft pick.

Upon which the Lions will draft Brady Quinn, and then convert him to WR. Because Jon Kitna, is entrenched as the starter.