After losing in ugly fashion to a Cardinals team that had lost in very ugly fashion one week earlier to the Seahawks, more and more Lions fans are suggesting that coach Jim Schwartz should go.
The only problem? He won’t -- thanks to a contract extension he signed before the season.
And so the frustration is now finding its way to G.M. Martin Mayhew.
Mayhew, whose best argument for the ascending to the job was that he had a front-row seat to the Matt Millen debacle and the ensuing lessons of how not to run an NFL team, has led the franchise to a record of 22-41 since 2009. Though that initial 2-14 mark flowed from the horrible roster he inherited from Millen, the idea that Mayhew is entirely blameless for the Millen morass makes little sense.
In Mayhew’s defense, the team made it to the postseason last year, for the first time in a long time. But it could be a long time until they make it back, given that plenty of players will become free agents in March -- and plenty of money will have to eventually be spent to turn the pre-wage scale contracts of top-two picks Matthew Stafford and Ndamukong Suh into long-term deals like the one given to Calvin Johnson.
So Mayhew should get more time to reshape the roster. But sooner or later both Mayhew and Schwartz will be accountable, if the postseason continues to be a once-in-a-decade aberration.