Rod Marinelli Fired by Detroit Lions after 0-16 Season

December 29, 2008 By 2 Comments

Rod Marinelli Fired By LionsDespite rumors that Rod Marinelli might somehow maintain his job after the Lions became the first team in history to go 0-16 this season, it appears that the Lions have done what they really had no choice but to do: Rod Marinelli has been fired.

During his three-year tenure in Detroit, Rod Marinelli went 10-38. And though it seems like a distant memory now, the Lions were 6-2 to start out the 2007 season after quarterback Jon Kitna guaranteed a 10-win season before the year started. However, the Lions imploded to end the season and the implosion continued this year.

I went on record a couple of weeks ago saying that I wanted the Lions to win at least one game this year and avoid the ignominy of being the only franchise to go 0-16. I don’t think anyone can argue that Rod Marinelli has handled himself with class and has never shown himself to be anything other than a hard-working, passionate, and accountable man who respects the game of football and never stops fighting.

Unfortunately for Rod Marinelli and the Lions, his abilities as a head coach never matched up to the will and resolve that was palpable any time you heard him speak. I have always liked Rod Marinelli, and he can be a position coach for my team any day of the week. Some people are just miscast as head coaches, and like Romeo Crennel in Cleveland, Rod Marinelli seems to be a great man and a very good coach who just was not a great, or perhaps even good, head coach.

No word on who the Lions are looking at to replace Rod Marinelli. But at least Lions fans can take solace in one thing: it won’t be Matt Millen making the decision this time.

And in other Black Monday NFL news, Eric Mangini of the New York Jets is apparently going to be fired as well; along with the aforementioned Romeo Crennel.

(Update: Looks like Rod Marinelli is the fall guy for the Lions’ 0-16 record.  According to PFT, Tom Lewand has been promoted from COO to President, and Martin Mayhew has been given the permanent position of General Manager.)

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Filed Under: Featured Column, NFL Tagged With: detroit lions, NFL, rod marinelli
About Jerod Morris

A proud graduate of Indiana University, Jerod Morris founded Midwest Sports Fans in August of 2008 and has been its Managing Editor every day since. Follow him on Twitter (@JerodMorris) for MSF updates, sports discussion, and a compelling daily assortment of funny and interesting links.
In addition to his work at MSF, Jerod hosts the fast-growing Indiana basketball postgame show The Assembly Call and provides regular music recommendations at IndieChristmas.com. He also helped develop the Synthesis Managed WordPress Hosting platform on which MSF and all of his other sites are run.

  • http://hardcoredetroitfan.wordpress.com/ Chris Thompson

    Personally I think that letting Mike Martz get away was the biggest mistake that the Lions could have done in the off season last year. granted they did only win one game after a 6-2 start, but he had potential to win alot more games this season. Oh, and what do you think about the Roy Williams trade, good or bad?

  • http://www.midwestsportsfans.com JRod

    @Chris Thompson, thanks for the comment.

    Mike Martz is obviously an offensive genius, but I think that his divisive personality makes it hard for him to stay anywhere for too long. It did seem like he had found a comfort zone in Detroit, but after everything unraveled I guess they figured he was not worth dealing with. I have only heard the same rumors that everyone else has regarding the head coaches he works for and other front office people not liking him. Maybe he gets a bad rap, maybe not. But that reputation seems to be what keeps him from hanging on in places for too long.

    As far as Roy Williams goes, that trade is looking like a colossal bust right now. The Cowboys gave up a #1 pick for what they thought was a #1 talent. But Williams seemed lazy, slow, and disinterested once he got to the Cowboys. He has a reputation for needing to be coddled and having a certain number of balls thrown his way to maintain motivation — which I guess makes him like 99% of all other receivers. But the Cowboys were definitely expecting more for how much they gave up to get him.