Dan Campbell, the Detroit Lions‘ newest head coach, continues to get negative feedback from the national media who seem to consider him a clown. However, isn’t the main point whether he wins or not?
The city of Detroit has had some interesting coaches. From Chuck ‘Daddy Rich’ Daly of the Pistons to Harry Neale of the Red Wings. Some like Daly and Scotty Bowman have been at the forefront of powerful Detroit teams that not only won titles but dominated their sport.
Others like Neale and John Kuester were unable to turn their teams into winners. Part of the success and failure of any coach is what the front office serves up for them to utilize.
Any coach will tell you how important it is to have talent in order to win. In the Motor City, we’ve seen teams that were clearly bottom feeders in the talent department. We have also seen some teams that could compete with the best their league could throw at them.
For 25 years the Red Wings were a playoff team. Until the last couple of postseason appearances, they were legitimate championship contenders as they won the Stanley Cup four times in that stretch. The Pistons ‘Bad Boys’ teams won back-to-back titles and completely frustrated Michael Jordan and the Bulls until Chicago reached their potential and the aging Pistons could no longer hold them back.
The current run of every team in Detroit rebuilding at once is an anomaly. Generally, at least one or two of the cities teams have traditionally been in playoff contention. However, the current drought and guessing game of which team will be the next contender has caused the microscope to shine a little harder on our stumbling teams.
Yet even in the midst of this wasteland of uncompetitive teams in Detroit, the Lions seem to still be getting the harshest glare, especially from the national pundits. Maybe it’s because they haven’t won for 60 plus years. Maybe it’s because of how inept this team has been run. Whatever the reason the national vultures are circling again and this time they wish to vanquish what many fans think is one of the few hopes the Lions have of becoming a winner; Dan Campbell.