A few weeks ago, Lions coach Jim Caldwell was facing questions about whether he’d be fired during the season. Now he’s facing questions about whether his team can make the playoffs.
Caldwell doesn’t want to answer either question.
Just as Caldwell didn’t want to answer questions about his job security when the Lions were 1-7, Caldwell doesn’t want to answer questions about the playoffs now that the Lions are 4-7.
“You can talk about it, but I don’t,” Caldwell told reporters today. “We don’t talk about anything but the next game, just like we always do.”
The Lions remain a long shot to make the playoffs. Detroit is 3.5 games behind Minnesota in the NFC North and 2.5 games behind Atlanta in the NFC wild card race. With only five games left in the season, that’s a lot of ground to make up. On the other hand, if the Lions were to win out, at 9-7 they’d have a chance.
“That has nothing to do with us at this point,” Caldwell said. “You add them up when you’re done, and right now we’re worried about all the things we’ve got to face.”
Caldwell may not want to answer those questions. But it’s far better to answer questions about the playoffs than to answer questions about his job security.