Written by Brett Solesky | 03 October 2009

More than anything, it's been the coaching. To say Jim Schwartz has been an upgrade over Rod Marinelli is an understatement. 

For a rookie head coach, Schwartz carries himself a certain gravitas Marinelli didn't or couldn't. He was not afraid to hire a pair of former head coaches, Gunther Cunningham and Scott Linehan, to run his defense and offense, respectively. Marinelli, on the other hand, hired his son-in-law to run his defense, and when he couldn't handle Mike Martz, he made the underwhelming Jim Colletto his offensive coordinator. Those 3 led the Lions to 0-16.

Schwartz isn't afraid to change schemes on the fly when something isn't working, change the depth chart when players are producing and unlike Marinelli, who believed if he kept doing what he was doing, he would be successful. Albert Einstein must have been thinking of Marinelli when he said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." That was the Marinelli era in a nutshell.

We can already see the Lions are heading in the right direction under Schwartz. Hey, 1-2 is already better than 0-16... Before the exhibition season started, I was all gung-ho for Stafford sitting for an entire season. Daunte Culpepper was signed for a reason, right? My attitude changed once I got to see Stafford in game action. The rookie seems to have his head on straight, has the physical tools and the team seems to have fallen behind Stafford, who is quickly becoming a leader.

Stafford has the best arm we've seen in Detroit since...well, it sure wasn't on a Lions quarterback, that's for sure. During exhibition play, Stafford showed off a bazooka-like arm and the ability to use that bazooka-like arm to throw deep downfield. He threw the ball deep much more often than Culpepper, who tried to dink and dunk his way to the end zone. Stafford used the Lions' biggest weapon and best player, Calvin Johnson, far more than Culpepper. That combination, Stafford to Johnson, convinced Schwartz to start the rookie, and let him learn by doing, instead of watching.

The more I thought about it, I realized the outcry from fans wanting Stafford to sit showed how afraid of failure the fan base is when it comes to the Lions. We've seen our fair share of first round busts come through Detroit over the years, especially at quarterback. (Chuck Long, Andre Ware, Joey "Blue Skies" Harrington) It's generated a "play it safe" sort of thinking, where the fans are afraid of the Lions going for the home run ball, and are perfectly happy with their playing it safe, so to speak.

Starting Stafford is going for the home run ball.

Even though he's struggled at times, it's proving to be the correct call. Stafford will be a much better quarterback than the oft-injured Culpepper (at least the Culpepper of today, as he was a beast before the knee injury), and deserves to start. As I put it on TWFE, the longer you wait for the future, the shorter it will be. Stafford is the future, and the future is now. So far, it's been the linebacker corps. The Lions totally rebuilt their line backing unit in the off season by trading for Julian Peterson to play on the strong side, signing free agent Larry Foote for the middle, and drafting DeAndre Levy. It was hoped incumbent starter on the weak side, Ernie Sims, and their undersized 2nd round pick in '08, Jordon Dizon, would flourish under a new defensive scheme, as they weren't a good fit for Marinelli's beloved Tampa Too.

Foote's been a leader and a play maker, Peterson's been a steadying influence and Levy is pushing Sims for playing time. Levy started for an injured Sims last Sunday, and was a big part (making the tackles on 3rd and 4th down) of the first goal line stand I've seen from the Lions in recent memory. So far, so good, when it comes to the linebackers.

Let's not talk about the rest of the defense, OK? Anything would be better than the clichés, platitudes and so-called home-spun wisdom the Lions got daily from Rod Marinelli.

Jim Schwartz has repeatedly said no one is guaranteed a starting position; they'll have to earn it week to week. He backed the statement up this past Sunday when he benched starting corner Phillip Buchanan for backup Will James. It turned out to be the right call, as James played well and will start again against the Bears.

Schwartz isn't afraid of making changes, has the full support of the front office and the players know it. The Lions signed 3 veteran free agent wide outs before the season (Dennis Northcutt, Ronald Curry, Bryant Johnson), and drafted another (Derrick Williams) in the 3rd round of the '09 draft, all in hopes of finding a compliment to Megatron. Curry was traded before the season started. Williams has been deactivated for all 3 games this season, and has been the one bust of a successful draft. Northcutt is spending more time as a kick returner, and is the number 3 or 4 wide receiver on the depth chart. But all was not lost.

We saw a second wide out step up opposite Calvin Johnson for the first time in the Redskins win. Bryant Johnson was the Lions leading receiver against Washington with 4 catches for 73 yards. He also caught a 1st quarter TD pass and set up the game clinching TD in the 4th quarter by drawing a long pass interference penalty in the end zone. It was by far the best performance by a secondary receiver in a couple of seasons.

Sure, much of the reason BJohnson is getting open is due to CJohnson drawing double and triple coverage. But he's taking advantage of the single coverage, and Stafford has noticed. He is targeting BJohnson more and more by the game.

The more BJohnson produces, the less CJohnson will be double covered, and the better off a talented, but still a raw rookie, quarterback will be. On defense, its former Steeler and Detroit native, MLB Larry Foote, who is stepping up to the plate, to mix sports metaphors. Foote is making big plays on the field, and is HUGE step up in talent from last season's starter, Paris Lenon. More importantly, Foote is taking on a leadership role both on the field and in the locker room.

Many in the Detroit fan base wanted LB Aaron Curry taken with the first overall pick in the draft. When the Lions signed Foote not long after the draft, they’re not taking Curry made that much more sense. (Personally, I was a Stafford backer all the way, as LB's just aren't worth first overall money) Foote has more than lived up to his one year deal to this point, and there is a rising consensus within the Lions' fan base believing his deal should be extended, ASAP.

On offense, it's a little more difficult to determine. Calvin Johnson is their best player, yet he's not the most vocal of players. He reminds me of Barry Sanders, who gave his all, and then some, on the field, but declined to take a leadership role on the team. Kevin Smith has talent, and talks a good game, but has yet to truly have a break out performance, and is prone to making silly proclamations.

Which is why I’m going to say Matthew Stafford is the leader of the offense? There was a play early on in the Washington win which showed the leadership side of Stafford. On a 3rd and long, after Washington had taken a 3rd down penalty on Detroit in hopes of keeping the Lions out of field goal range, Stafford ducked under a sack attempt, took off, made a couple of juke moves to avoid tacklers, ran for 21 yards, didn't slide, and got a massively important 1st down. His run set up a TD pass to Bryant Johnson on the next play.

You could see the entire team get a lift from Stafford after that run. It may have been the play which solidified him as the "man" on the Lions.

It was obvious Schwartz feels Stafford the "man" by letting him throw the ball when the Lions were trying to run clock late in the 4th against the 'Skins. On 2nd and long deep in Lions territory just before the 2 minute warning, Stafford made a gorgeous 24 yard throw to TE Will Heller. Heller wasn't even the primary option, but Stafford spotted him open, and lofted the ball to him while rolling out. It was a play call the previous coaching regime NEVER would have sent in, let alone given their QB the option to run or throw on the play.

That's a team who believes in their QB, rookie or not. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Yes, the Lions are improving. No, they are not a good team...not yet, anyway. Matt Millen DESTROYED the Lions, leaving them in worse shape than even an expansion franchise. How bad was Millen? Out of all the draft picks taken from 2002 - 2006, the Lions have one, and only one, of those players left on their roster. OLB Ernie Sims and he's being pushed for playing time by rookie DeAndre Levy.  

The Redskins win was big for both the fans and the franchise. You have no idea just how badly it was needed. The Buccaneers' record losing streak no longer looms over the Lions' shoulders like an albatross.

Regardless of the happiness and good karma which resulted from ending the streak, the Lions still have a very long way to go before they can even be considered mediocre. Confidence is great, but it doesn't replace talent. The Lions are still lacking talent at too many positions. Where they do have talent, they don't have depth.

One win, nice as it was, doesn't change a thing. The Lions' upside is only that of a 4-5 win team. It'll still be a 4-5 game improvement, but all it'll mean is they are no longer legendarily, record breaking bad. They'll only be run of the mill bad. Sad to say, that will be a BIG improvement.

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