For Lions, Rod Marinelli Might Be Gone but His Spirit Lives On

I don't know enough about Tom Lewand or Martin Mayhew to comment on whether Lions owner William Clay Ford was wise to promote from within the organization, but history suggests that no one would've complained if Ford blew up the whole operation and started over.

The franchise has just 40 wins this decade, which is slightly more impressive when you consider that the total includes the recently completed 0-for-'08 run. (Not really; it works out to 5 wins a season versus 4.4 wins a season. In the salary-cap era, that blows.) Perhaps predictably, Clay decided to, as they say, stay the course and give current team employees Lewand and Mayhew shiny new titles.

Not surprisingly, the 2009 Lions look very similar to the versions that preceded it. Which is to say: unimpressive and out of sorts. Via PFT, the first post-Rod Marinelli press conference provided plenty of unintentional hilarity. Because after all, laughter -- even if accidental -- is the best medicine. Or something.

The Tuesday press conference also included some superficially entertaining lines from Lewand, who unwittingly demonstrated that he really isn't a "football guy."

While explaining the flexibility that coaches must have when entering an organization where things already are being done a certain way, Lewand said that Steelers coach Mike Tomlin arrived in Pittsburgh not from Minnesota, but from Tampa.

Lewand also remarked at one point that the Steelers allowed "Greg Lloyd" to sign with Miami. And, most amusingly, Lewand said that the Falcons' only significant free-agent acquisition this year was "Michael Bennett."

And then Lewand hopped into his time machine to go back for Barry Sanders and Wayne Fontes.

Who knows, maybe Lewand is a brilliant football mind but happens to be terrible with names. That's the glass-half-full view; when the Lions give up their two first-round picks for Michael Bennett (while wondering how he ended up on the Chargers) and talk Greg Lloyd out of retirement, then we'll know: Matt Millen, puppet master, is still pulling the strings. He's fiendishly clever like that.