The Detroit Lions looked like the Lions of old this past season, and that is not a good thing. After turning things around with a 10-6 record and a playoff berth last season, Detroit won only four games in 2012. A lot of people are to blame for the disappointing campaign, but it starts with head coach Jim Schwartz.
According to one anonymous Lions players, a lack of discipline was one of the team’s biggest problems this season.
“I think players first and foremost are at fault,” the player reportedly told CBSSports.com’s Mike Freeman. “I also think Coach (Schwartz) lost control of the team a little. I hope he comes back. It would be stupid to fire him, but we were an undisciplined team. Most of that is on us.
“But everyone needs to be accountable. The coaches, the players, the front office. Guys need to stop acting like a–holes off the field. Need to stop getting stupid penalties. The truth is coaches need to punish guys more when they screw up.”
Titus Young is a perfect example. It took punching a teammate, headbutting an opponent and intentionally sabotaging his own offense for Schwartz to finally get fed up with the young receiver, and even now he may still return to the team. Several Lions players were arrested over the offseason, which prompted an anonymous Detroit player to call the team a “laughingstock.” Coincidentally, the player Freeman interviewed used the exact same word.
“We go from the playoffs to a laughingstock in a year,” the player said. “That’s on us first. But everyone has to take the heat, including the coaches.”
Was it the same player in both instances? The Lions have been a laughingstock since their arrest-filled offseason, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if two different players described them as such. In any event, Schwartz’s seat is going to be very warm to begin the season in 2013.
Photo credit: Jim Brown/US Presswire
