Column: Detroit Lions should end Jim Schwartz era

Lions coach Jim Schwartz has been on the hotseat for much of the second half of this season. Now that Detroit is out of playoff contention, things really are starting to heat up. (Mike Mulholland |
Kyle Meinke | By Kyle Meinke |
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on December 23, 2013 at 4:59 AM, updated December 23, 2013 at 6:21 AM

DETROIT -- The time is 8:44 p.m., and a stadium worker just drove toward midfield in what looks a lot like a lawn mower. It isn't a lawn mower, obviously, because Ford Field doesn't have grass. But it looks like one.

The machine has bristled plates on the bottom which rotate violently, and the worker is riding that machine up and down and back and forth over the Lions logo at the 50-yard line.

Only an hour and change has passed since Detroit suffered a 23-20 overtime loss against the New York Giants on Sunday evening. And already they are scrubbing away that midfield logo.

There's something poetic about this image. A half-erased lion, mere minutes after the Lions themselves were erased from playoff contention.

And now the Jim Schwartz era should follow suit.

It's time for this era to be scrubbed out.

The Lions have one more game, next Sunday in Minnesota. But that's a mere postscript after Sunday's loss against lowly New York eliminated them from the playoffs.

Detroit (7-8) started 6-3, yet was caught from behind by a Chicago team that has lost three of its past five games and a Green Bay team that is 2-5-1 in its past eight.

The Lions simply were buried in a flurry of interceptions, penalties, drops and turnovers. They are 1-5 in their past six games, despite leading in the fourth quarter of each of those games.

Adding some insult to injury, Chicago and Green Bay both lost Sunday, meaning the Lions could have controlled their own destiny today. All they had to do was win against the awful Giants, who hadn't beaten a .500 team in almost two months.

And Detroit couldn't even manage that.

It'll go down as just another missed opportunity in a season with oodles of them.

"You pray to the football gods that they bless you with a season where teams in your division are down," receiver Nate Burleson said. "We had that. The football gods gave us a gift, and in so many ways as a team, we squandered it.

"I've been playing 11 years, and that situation doesn't come about. So it's frustrating. This season is going to sting, but at this point, it is what it is. We got to take our lumps."

mjm_LionsGiants_19.JPGMatthew Stafford has struggled for the past six games. Could he be in need of new coaching, or would he prosper with another year with Jim Schwartz? 

Burleson would never say it, nor would any of his teammates, but one of those lumps has to be Schwartz's job.

How can you bring back a coach who is 29-50 in five seasons, and call that progress? How can you bring back a coach with just one playoff bid in five years, and feel good about it?

The greatest case of all might by Matthew Stafford. He's supposed to be the franchise quarterback -- at least that's how the Lions are paying him -- but he's not getting any better.

He threw two more interceptions against New York, including a costly pick-six that forced Detroit into the overtime. That's his 12th pick in six games, and he's officially reeling.

Perhaps a new coach could iron out Stafford's footwork and decision-making, and finally help his elite skill-set translate into actually elite quarterbacking.

Schwartz has done some good things, to be sure, including elevating Detroit out of the horrors of 0-16. He presided over a 10-6 season just three years later, and that's commendable.

But there's only so long you can rest on those laurels. Detroit is just 11-20 the past two seasons, and 2-13 in the second halves of those seasons.

It clearly has hit a wall.

"Sometimes there's a brick wall in front, and you just have to decide to go through it," left guard Rob Sims said. "We just didn't. We didn't get it done. We didn't go through the wall."

The losses are damning enough, but Schwartz might have sealed his own fate at the end of regulation against New York when he appeared to lose his cool with the fans.

Schwartz elected to run out the final 23 seconds, rather than use his two timeouts to go for a game-winning score, and was lustily booed by the home-town fans. That's when TV cameras appeared to catch him shouting expletives at the crowd.

Running down Jim Harbaugh over a rough handshake? That's one thing. Showing up an opposing player? That's another.

Taking on the hometown fans? That's career suicide, especially for a coach known in NFL circles to be ego-driven and difficult to work with.

To be fair, Schwartz denied he yelled at fans, claiming instead that he was addressing his players. But it doesn't take a lip-reader to see exactly what he was saying, and it wasn't pretty.

The losing should have been enough to fire Schwartz, if this organization cares about winning. And even if it weren't enough, that sideline tirade will do him no favors when Black Monday arrives in a week.

photo(10).JPGFord Field maintenance workers start removing the Lions logo from midfield shortly after Detroit's final home game of the season. 

The good news is the Lions have a core of talent that many teams would envy. That core is in its prime and locked up for next season.

This is not a rebuilding project. This team can win big now, which is precisely why Schwartz needs to go.

Just think of the baggage his return would carry. Every turnover would be shrouded in scrutiny. Every bad outing from Matthew Stafford would offer more catcalls that he isn't developing.

Every loss would be magnified, and engender fear that another was on the horizon.

Detroit needs a fresh start, which means it needs this era to be scrubbed away.

Just like that Lions logo, which by now is no longer here.