Coach Killers, Week 6: The Lions

Every week, NFL FanHouse hits the lowlights from Sunday's action, looking at those players who did the most to move their head coaches that much closer to returning to the Bed and Breakfast business.

This has nothing to do with the 26-0 shutout the Packers laid on the Lions last Sunday.

Typically, this space is reserved for a player or players whose performance on a given week made his coach's week miserable or job status shaky. But we're going a little bit bigger picture this week.

In this instance, it was the Lions' brass playing the role of coach killer on a coach manning sidelines over 500 miles south.

There are a lot of problems with the Titans right now. It's been enough to send Jeff Fisher into the arms of the enemy. But the biggest isn't Fisher and it's not Kerry Collins. It's the fact that Jim Schwartz is no longer around.

Albert Haynesworth's departure was the one that got the most press, but it was Schwartz's that was the most impactful. A team can overcome the loss of a player, no matter how talented. What it can't overcome is the loss of heart, and that's exactly what Schwartz brought to the Titans' defense as its coordinator.

Here's a secret some of you may already be privy to: Kerry Collins has been a bad quarterback for a lot longer than this year. The Titans have been successful because they've surrounded him with a very good running game and, up until this point, a great defense. The defense kept things close enough to allow the Titans to rely on those backs and give Collins a reprieve.

They still have that very good running game, but the defense has fallen by the wayside. Seventh overall in total defense in 2008, the Titans are now ranking 31st, just ahead of the Browns. The 33 points per game they've allowed thus far ranks dead last in the league, though that number is skewed by the debacling they took at the hands of the Patriots last week. Injuries are to blame, as well, but Schwartz's departure has this team just looking like an emasculated unit, with none of the physicality or intensity that made the group so fearsome in recent years. Again, this is not a talent issue, it's a character issue.

So as a result, the run game has had to go it alone in trying to salvage the wreck, and we all know how that's turning out. With no defense and no passing game, opponents are keying in on the Titans' backfield. The team is the equivalent of one hand trying to wash itself.

In 2008 the Titans averaged 31.8 carries per game, good enough for fifth in the league. This year they're at 26.0, or 20th. They're relying more on Collins because they don't have a defense that is keeping them close. And that's their downfall.

I could argue that without the fire on defense, the offense doesn't have anything to feed off, to fuel its own passion, but that would just be a guess from an outsider. But it's clear from watching film that this isn't the same Titans defense, and that tumbling domino has started a chain reaction that is directly leading to the exposing of Collins and the negative passing days that go with it.

If I were Jeff Fisher, I'd want to wear a Peyton Manning jersey, too. Or at least call Detroit to see if Schwartz has an opening at coordinator.