The Detroit Lions were one of the most disappointing teams in football last season, going from a playoff appearance in 2011 to a miserable 4-12 record in 2012. After posting its first winning record in 11 years, the team was expected to continue improving and possibly even win a playoff game. Instead, the Lions went in the opposite direction.
Head coach Jim Schwartz took a lot of the blame for the four-win season, but it wasn’t just the fans who were upset with him. His own sons were also furious with their father.
“Nobody is happy. My kids are just starting to talk to me again,” Schwartz said earlier this week, via MLive.com’s Anwar S. Richardson. “My son (has) a lot of Lions posters and sweatshirts and hats. They weren’t happy with 4-12 either. Believe me, nobody was, and we all want to get that taste out of our mouth. The only way we are going to get that out is if we move on past it, and we identify what the unique capabilities of this team are, try to accentuate those, identify our weaknesses, try to minimize those, try hard every day in the offseason and training camp, and have a good game plan each week.”
We’ve heard the whole “my wife won’t even talk to me” bit before when coaches or teams struggle, but Schwartz reiterated that he was serious about his family being angry. He said his son Christian took the abysmal season particularly hard.
“That wasn’t a joke. He was mad,” Schwartz said. “If you see his room, he’s got Lions helmets and jerseys. It’s not because he’s my son. It’s because he’s a big Lions fan. If I worked down at the Rogue (automotive plant), he’d still have all that same stuff. He’s a fan … I imagine that you walk into the Rogue on Monday morning after a Lions loss, nobody is in a good mood. Nobody is in a good mood over in Allen Park either. Part of our job is moving on and getting ready for the next week.”
A lot of things went wrong for the Lions last season. They were certainly better than their 4-12 record indicated, but you have to make a lot of mistakes to lose 12 games in a season. Schwartz took the blame from one particular player for losing control of the team, but it certainly wasn’t all his fault. Regardless of who was or was not to blame, Lions fans were given flashbacks. When you look at their records through the 2000s, you realize that is a very bad thing.
Photo credit: Jim Brown/US Presswire
