Detroit Lions Fire Mike Martz, Jim Colletto Takes Over as Offensive Coordinator

Blogging the National Football League, Blogging the NFL

The Detroit Lions fired offensive coordinator Mike Martz on Wednesday. Today, I get a press release from the Lions saying O-line coach Jim Colletto had been promoted to the OC position replacing Coach Martz who “will not be returning to the team.” That’s a nice way of announcing someone was fired.

Coach Martz was supposed to bring his offensive genius to Detroit, the same one that pioneered the St. Louis Rams’ “Greatest Show on Turf” teams. And with all-world rookie receiver Calvin Johnson being added as the final piece of the puzzle, the Lions’ offense was supposed to run like a well-oiled machine.

And it pretty much did through the first half of the 2007 season in compiling a 6-2 record. But things fell apart during the playoff push and Detroit lost seven of their final eight games to finish a miserable 7-9. Someone is to blame and whether it’s fair or not, that someone was Coach Martz.

Apparently it’s going to take two minds to replace him, however. While Coach Colletto will be the offensive coordinator, receivers coach Kippy Brown will take on a role known as assistant head coach/passing game coordinator (additionally, Shawn Jefferson was promoted to wide receivers coach). Too many cooks in the kitchen? We’ll see, but one thing’s for sure. Detroit’s going to need to lose their negative identity. Will a new OC and passing game coordinator make that happen? Only if they can change the attitude of some of the players on the team. The Lions are still loaded with offensive talent. They just need someone to convince them they are the “new Detroit Lions.” It looks like the Cleveland Browns have managed just such an identity overhaul. The Detroit Lions need to follow suit.