Have the Detroit Lions become the NFC North cellar dwellers?

So I guess the question is this; were the Lions better off beating a dead horse with their defensive personnel deficiencies or is basically pulling the plug on many of them that just didn’t fit or simply played very poorly in the exhibition season just a much-needed step towards re-building that unit?

After the Lions completed this past season Bob Quinn brushed Jim Caldwell out the door in favor of Matt Patricia. Let’s be honest, that was Quinn’s one true candidate.

His reason for firing Caldwell was that they had underachieved during his tenure or at the very least last season. Quinn stated that the team has higher standards and expects to be better and more or less built the expectations of Lions fans into this team being a playoff contender now.

Yet here we are eight months later and they are admitting that the defensive personnel isn’t up to standard. Now granted they are being asked to do much more on defense than had been the case under Jim Caldwell and Teryl Austin. And it is easy to say the discarded players don’t ‘fit’ Patricia’s scheme. But if they had been good players wouldn’t the weeding out process taken much longer?

No one in this city wants to continue to be patient and no one wants any kind of rebuilding process. This franchise has been rebuilding for 60 years! When will enough be enough?

Yet there is now definitely a defensive re-build in process. Matt Patricia will continue to add whatever parts he believes will make a difference and toss away any that don’t fit. As he stated after the Cleveland Browns came to town last week for the exhibition finale and destroyed these Lions, it’s a long process.

That was his way of letting us know that he realizes the Lions defense is far away from being where it needs to be in the front seven. That was his way of saying that we wouldn’t make it to the season opener without re-building that front seven from the waiver wire. Other teams trash is now the Lions gold, they hope.

That was the primer to let us know that while the Lions may have finally succeeded in building that dangerous offense the Ford family has dreamed about for decades, the defense is pathetic. And defense still wins championships.

So while no one wants to go back to the drawing board, is it really any worse than if they kept players that didn’t show any progress at all?