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Detroit Lions: The enduring legacy of Matt Millen

By Tredell Suber

PROVO, UT - SEPTEMBER 20: Matt Millen, an ESPN analyst, on field before the game between the Virginia Cavaliers and the Brigham Young Cougars at LaVell Edwards Stadium on September 20, 2014 in Provo, Utah. (Photo by Gene Sweeney Jr/Getty Images )
PROVO, UT - SEPTEMBER 20: Matt Millen, an ESPN analyst, on field before the game between the Virginia Cavaliers and the Brigham Young Cougars at LaVell Edwards Stadium on September 20, 2014 in Provo, Utah. (Photo by Gene Sweeney Jr/Getty Images ) /
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Mandatory Credit: Tom Pidgeon /Allsport
Mandatory Credit: Tom Pidgeon /Allsport /

Playing career, broadcasting, Lions tenure

During his prime playing days as a tenacious linebacker for the Oakland/LA Raiders, San Francisco 49ers, and Washington Redskins, Matt Millen was voted to the Pro Bowl in 1988 and won four Super Bowl rings.

Upon his NFL retirement as a player, Millen went on to find success as a color commentator and analyst for both the CBS and Fox networks. In 2001, Matt Millen soon found himself being plucked up directly out of the broadcast booth and installed as the Detroit Lions team president/CEO by Mr. William Clay Ford, Sr., the longtime owner of the organization.

It was widely known that Millen never had any experience working in the front office of a football team in any capacity before taking over as the head of the Lions’ front office but despite this, the Ford family believed that they made the right hire and had full faith and loyalty in the abilities of their guy.

During his tenure at the helm of the Lions, Millen notoriously drafted a wide receiver with Detroit’s first-round draft pick an astounding four times in five years from 2003-2007 (Charles Rogers, Roy Williams, Mike Williams, Calvin Johnson).

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I was 15 years old when Millen took over in Detroit and for the latter part of my adolescence and early adulthood, I blamed him entirely for all of the Lions’ failures and that assessment is simultaneously fair and unfair to a certain extent.

It is fair because Matt Millen was the guy running the show. He was empowered by team ownership and he had the final say on all decisions directly related to Detroit’s on-field product. It is a bit unfair because Millen was clearly overwhelmed from the very beginning. He wasn’t put in a position of success and it showed.

He didn’t have a trustworthy cabinet of football advisors around him and instead of sticking to the same instincts that had made him such an effective football player, he would listen to the voices and opinions of others who more often than not advised him in the wrong direction.

It broke the hearts of all Lions fans everywhere when it became public knowledge that instead of drafting pass-rusher extraordinaire DeMarcus Ware in 2005, Millen was swayed into drafting yet another wide receiver in Mike Williams who is now known as one of the biggest draft busts of all time. Heartbreaking “could’ve beens” such as those became a depressing feature of Millen’s career in Detroit and it was absolutely maddening from a fan’s perspective.

There is no reason why he should have been retained by the Lions for as long as he was considering the 31-97 overall record with the team.

During that era, everything seemed to be a perfect storm of disaster that culminated in the 0-16 season. An inexperienced leader in the front office, ownership that was loyal to a fault, and a lack of foresight to make a change sooner than they did were all significant contributing factors to the futility of the Detroit Lions.

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