Jason Garrett Leading Lions Coaching Search?

Dallas Morning News - The good folks from Showtime's Inside The NFL sent this by special delivery and I pass it on for it is better to give than receive (except at the start of NFL overtime periods.) On tonight's show insider Michael Lombardi anoints Jason Garrett the leading candidate for the vacant Detroit Lions job because is "the guy they think can turn their franchise around."

This comes from the same Michael Lombardi that said last week Garrett was withdrawing his name from consideration for the job, so take it for what its worth, but he has traditionally been pretty accurate with his info. I'm not sure how anybody can feel confident with this hire. The Lions have been so bad on the defensive side of the ball for so long, it seems that a defensive-minded coach would be neccessary. That said, I don't find their defensive candidates attractive either. Jim Schwartz, who is a well-known candidate and Leslie Frazier are both a little too Rod Marinelli-esque for my tastes. My personal hopes were that they would target Rex Ryan, the Raven's Defensive Coordinator, but he doesn't seem to be a candidate. What looks definite is that they will hire somebody without head coaching experience. There has been some public clamoring for an experienced coach, but the new NFL trend is to hire assistants and after the successes this year of John Harbaugh, Mike Smith, and Tony Sparano, this clearly won't change this year.

We all must remember these are the Lions. If they hired Vince Lombardi as Head Coach with Bill Walsh to run the O and Bill Belichick to run the D, they would find a way to miss the playoffs. Actually they would almost certainly miss the playoff with a dead Head Coach and a dead Offensive Coordinator. In reality, any success will happen due to good drafting, and with the same management that they've had since 2000, don't expect anything to change. They have 5 picks relatively early, so it is actually an attractive job, but if the first overall pick is a failure, it will set this franchise back another 5 years. The draft is the Lions Fan's Super Bowl, and this years will be no disappointment. If history has taught us anything, its that the coach of this team doesn't really matter. From Fontes to Mariucci to Marinelli to Bobby Ross, the results have always been the same, but the next coach of this team must draft well for any success.