Benjamin Franklin was a Detroit Lions fan

Why would I say such a blasphemous thing? Because Ben Franklin once said, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." Obviously, he was talking about the Detroit Lions.

The Lions blow the number 1 draft pick with a surprising win against playoff bound Dallas. Now guaranteed the number 2 overall draft pick, no one is sure what Matt Millen is going to do. Other than blow it, that is. About the only thing we are sure of is that a wide receiver won't be taken with that pick. Then again, this is Millen we are talking about.

Millen is given carte blanche to continue running the Lions into the ground, with the announcement that the incompetent boob will not be given the ziggy. Millen's vow to the beat writers, "I'll never quit," sent shivers through each and every Lions fan. Those that they have left, anyway...

Head coach Rod Marinelli, just as the namesake of this blog would do on a yearly basis, scapegoated a pair of coaches. Defensive coordinator Donnie Henderson and O-line coach Larry Beightol were given their walking papers. Oddly, the twice suspended, drunk, naked, fast food loving D-line coach, Joe Mullen, is still gainfully employed.

By the way, just who is the new defensive coordinator? Marinelli's son-in-law. Now that is just asking for trouble. Whispers of "Nepotism" are already being heard.

What's funny, is that some are still optimistic about the Lions. Read a message board or the beat writers, and you'll find plenty who still think Marinelli is the answer. Too many fans are looking at the so-called intangibles, not results. Because Marinelli talks a good game, looks like a football coach, has a military background, and there is the undeniable fact that he has an blithering idiot for a boss, most are giving Marinelli a free pass on this season.

That's amazing, as in my mind, we've seen no progress on the field. Marinelli needs to be held responsible. If anything, the Lions regressed badly this season. 2 other rookie head coaches, the Saints' Sean Payton and the Jets' Eric Mangini, took teams that were well under .500 in 2005 to the 2006 playoffs. I could give Marinelli the benefit if the doubt and say that he didn't have as good of personnel as those 2 teams. But you cannot deny the Lions were worse this season than last. Much worse. Finishing 3-13 is unacceptable, no matter the circumstances.

Marinelli claims that he's "Stirring the cement" and "Building a foundation." Then just why is it taking Marinelli so long, when Payton and Mangini were able to do so in less than 1 season? If you hired a contractor that took this long to build a "Foundation," you'd be asking for a refund and calling the Better Business Bureau.

So Marinelli got his free pass. That gives us a Catch 22. You give Marinelli the benefit of the doubt because he has a buffoon for a boss. But who hired Marinelli? That same buffoon.

If William Clay Ford had fired Millen, supposedly that would be unfair to Marinelli, as that would leave him a lame duck. So the Lions keep Millen, just to give Marinelli another year, and we continue with the 3-13 status quo? That makes absolutely no sense. What do you see in Millen's track record that would allow us to think that year 2 of Rod Marinelli will be any better than the regimes of Morhinwheg and Mariucci? I sure haven't seen it.

Marinelli continues to say that he wants his "Type" of player. But you have an incompetent boob in charge of getting those players. What do you see in Millen's track record that would allow us to think that year 7 of his player acquisition would be any better than the 6 years previous?

Millen needs to go, but he's not going anywhere. Any other GM would have been fired long, long ago. This is what I wrote on the Motownsports.com message board in a thread asking the question, who was a worse GM, the Tigers Randy Smith, or Matt Millen?

Randy Smith was run of the mill bad.

But Matt Millen? Millen is historically bad. Legendarily bad. The sort of bad that will be talked about for generations. When you look up bad in the encyclopedia, you'll see Millen's picture. Millen will be the comparison used when talking about how low a GM can take a franchise. Millen is so bad, that no other GM will ever be allowed to surpass Millen's ineptness, as they would have been canned long before they could do Millen-esque damage to a franchise.

So if we know the above is true, why on Earth would anyone think that the Lions won't have another double digit loss season, no matter how much Marinelli "Coaches 'em up?"