Let’s get one thing straight: Matt Millen is not the sole culprit of the Detroit Lions’ problems. Did Millen deserve to get fired from his GM post last season? Even he would tell you, Sure. Detroit is 31-97 since he was hired back in 2001—the worst record in football during that span. Many of Millen’s draft picks didn’t work out and he never found the right head coach for this club.

That said, Millen wasn’t the problem––he was merely part of a bigger problem. This Lions franchise has won just one playoff game in the last 50 years. The only constant during this era has been owner William Clay Ford. It was Ford who recently decided to replace Millen from within. He tapped front office assistant Martin Mayhew for the GM job and promoted executive vice president Tom Lewand to team president, where he’ll handle the salary cap and day-to-day operations. The only significant outsider brought into the front office was James “Shack” Harris, most recently the Jaguars VP of player personnel who will serve as a senior personnel executive (i.e. assistant to the GM).

In short, the Lions are aiming to rectify their problems by leaning on many of the very men who helped create them. No other NFL team has ever lost 16 games in a season, meaning Detroit is truly starting from rock bottom. Of course, they can only go up.

Mayhew’s first significant move as GM was to fire head coach Rod Marinelli and hire highly-successful Titans defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz. The 43-year-old Schwartz accumulated a solid veteran staff, headlined by offensive coordinator Scott Linehan and defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham. Both coordinators, like Detroit’s new logo, bring more ferocity and intensity. And both offer something that Schwartz does not: NFL head coaching experience.

Upon arriving in Motown, Schwartz and all his assistants sat down and dissected every second of Lions film from 2009. What they saw was an offense that, with no quarterback, coherent game plan or rushing attack, ranked 30th in yards and 27th in points. The defense was a thousand times worse. Detroit ranked dead last against the run and pass and yielded 517 points, second most in NFL history. After observing the brutal ’08 horror film, Schwartz and Mayhew decided that last year’s entire roster––save for superstar wide receiver Calvin Johnson––was expendable. They also instituted a no-talking policy when it comes to 2008. Players aren’t allowed to give any extra energy to last season.

Because this no talking idea is so sensible, we’re going to play along (best we can). There’s plenty to focus on moving forward. The Lions will have roughly seven new major contributors offensively in 2009, including a quarterback (either All-Pro-turned-journeyman Daunte Culpepper or $41.7 million No. 1 overall pick Matthew Stafford), three wide receivers (Bryant Johnson, Dennis Northcutt and third-round rookie Derrick Williams) and a topflight tight end (first-rounder Brandon Pettigrew). Linehan is also implementing a more aggressive, battle-tested playbook.

Defensively, old-school curmudgeon Gunther Cunningham is ditching the Cover 2 and introducing a more physical, attacking approach. This is somewhat surprising given that Schwartz ran a de facto Cover 2 in Tennessee, though it’s the head coach who ordered the move. Cunningham will utilize roughly eight new key contributors in this system, including star strongside linebacker Julian Peterson, veteran ex-Steeler middle linebacker Larry Foote, cornerbacks Philip Buchanon and Anthony Henry and scintillating second-round rookie Louis Delmas (a strong safety).

There are almost enough changes here to actually make 2008 obsolete. Offensively, if the front five can gel (granted, a fairly big if), this could be a surprisingly potent unit. Dido the defense, which is pretty solid at the second and third level but uncomfortably weak along the front. The depth on both sides of the ball is poor, which likely means so are the special teams. Thus, the odds of the Lions writing an epic Cinderella story in 2009 are extremely slim. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Cinderella story if the odds weren’t slim.

Offense

It’s a debate that pops up every year: do you start the rookie franchise quarterback or…

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