Matt Millen and Marty Mornhinweg, a couple of Harley-Davidson devotees who
have been handed the keys to the Detroit Lions, decided to ride their
motorcycles to a recent speaking engagement across the state in Grand Rapids.
Guess what? It started to rain and they lost their way, which, if you think about it,
is a perfect metaphor for the Lions.
|  | | Matt Millen, left, hired Marty Mornhinweg because of his West Coast offense background. |
This is a franchise that has rarely seen the sun since it won its last NFL
title in 1957, a franchise that has been within sight of its destination many
times but never seems to make it all the way there.
That's where Millen and Mornhinweg, the NFL's odd-couple management team,
come riding in on their hogs. They're already being called the M&M boys in
Detroit, and it will be up to them to drive the Lions to a championship after
four decades of numbing mediocrity.
At first glance, they seem ill-suited for the job.
Millen, who won four Super Bowl rings during a 12-year playing career with
the Raiders, 49ers and Redskins, has been in broadcasting since his
retirement in 1992. Now he's stepping directly from the television booth to
the presidency of the Lions, with control over all hiring and personnel
decisions.
Mornhinweg was a relative unknown who had never been a head coach at any
level until Millen hired him. As the 49ers offensive coordinator over the last
four years, he had called the plays for only two seasons, during which time the team
went 10-22. Now he's the latest coach to take a stab at prying a championship
performance out of a perennially underachieving team.
Some think both men are in over their heads, that Millen lacks the
requisite experience in scouting, drafting, trading and dealing with the
salary cap and that Mornhinweg has only coached six years in the league.
In fact, the opposite is true. Millen and Mornhinweg are the perfect
choices for a franchise that hasn't had a winning decade since the 1960s.
Why is that?
Because Millen works hard, knows the game and isn't afraid to make tough
decisions. Because Mornhinweg's Mike Holmgren pedigree is an extremely strong
indicator of success in the NFL. And because together they break the mold of
executives and coaches the Lions have been using -- unsuccessfully -- for
years.
The Millen hire bucks the NFL trend on several fronts. First, Millen had
never been a coach, scout or front-office executive until the Ford family
gave him $3 million a year and control of all football decisions. Second,
ex-NFL players traditionally haven't made good NFL executives. Third, the
positions of coach and general manager increasingly are becoming consolidated
around the league.
Now that Dwight Clark has lost power to Butch Davis in Cleveland, there is
only one ex-NFL player -- the Ravens' Ozzie Newsome -- in a true
decision-making general manager's role. And even though both Super Bowl teams
from last season had separate general managers and coaches, almost half of
the league's teams invest the football power in an omnipotent coach/general
manager.
The Lions are banking on Millen's work ethic, passion and knowledge of
football to overcome his inexperience. As a television analyst, he was always
wonderfully prepared, studying miles of tape before broadcasts and impressing
football people with the depth of the questions he asked. That's a lot
different than what he'll be doing now, but Millen, no dummy for a
head-knocking ex-linebacker, has a degree in marketing from Penn State, a
keen football mind and the ability to communicate.
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If they don't like it, that's their prerogative. I have one thing that I have to do, and we've got to win. Other than that, nothing matters. ” |
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— Matt Millen, Lions president |
Since taking the job, he's been on an 18-hour-a-day crash course, studying
tapes of players and learning the nuances of the salary cap. He has solicited
advice from his mentors -- John Madden, Bill Walsh, Joe Gibbs, Al Davis, Bill
Parcells and Joe Paterno. From them he learned to stick with your convictions
and not be afraid to pull the trigger.
Example A was Millen's reaction to fan criticism he received for gassing
Gary Moeller, who had replaced Bobby Ross near midseason and was popular in
the locker room and in the community, and hiring Mornhinweg.
"If they don't like it, that's their prerogative," Millen said. "I have one
thing that I have to do, and we've got to win. Other than that, nothing
matters."
Millen has acted quickly. His first move was to restructure the front
office, a sign that the Lions will no longer do business as usual. His next
move was to continue the retooling of the offensive line by drafting tackle
Jeff Backus and center Dominic Raiola, a sign that Millen knows the game is
still won and lost up front. His latest, and perhaps toughest move, will be
to release popular but overpaid wide receiver Herman Moore after the June 1 cutdown date, a sign that sentiment will no longer enter into team decisions.
So far, Millen's moves have shown an understanding that belies his
inexperience.
"It's not the traditional way, but there are a lot of guys who have come up
the traditional way that haven't been worth a crap," he told USA Today.
Millen is an advocate of the West Coast offense, one reason he found
Mornhinweg so attractive. Mornhinweg, 38, is the latest coach to fall out of
the Bill Walsh coaching tree, having come up under Holgmren, a former Walsh
assistant who coached the Packers and now coaches the Seahawks.
Mornhinweg was coached by Holmgren as a high school player in San Francisco
and won a Super Bowl ring during a two-year stint as an assistant coach under
Holmgren with the Packers. When Steve Mariucci, another former Holmgren
assistant, became head coach of the 49ers, he immediately hired Mornhinweg as
his offensive coordinator.
The track record of Holmgren's hand-picked offensive assistants borders on
outstanding. Mariucci took the 49ers to the playoffs his first two years
before the salary cap decimated the team's roster the last two years. The
Raiders' Jon Gruden and the Eagles' Andy Reid took their teams to the
playoffs last season. Mike Sherman had a 9-7 record in his first season with
the Packers last year.
Mornhinweg brings the same background to the Lions that those coaches
brought to their teams.
"He comes from good stock," Millen said.
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Millen and Mornhinweg
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Millen
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Mornhinweg
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Age
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43
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39
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College
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Penn State
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Montana
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Last job
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FOX TV analyst
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49ers offensive coordinator
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NFL career
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12 seasons as linebacker (1980-1991)
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6 seasons as coach (1995-2000)
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Super Bowl rings
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4 (1980 and 1983 Raiders, 1989 49ers, 1991 Redskins)
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1 (1996 Packers)
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As a third-generation Walsh disciple, Mornhinweg is a devotee of the West
Coast offense and, perhaps more important, the 49ers' professional,
meticulous way of doing things.
"It's not just the West Coast offense that these organizations are
interested in," Mariucci said. "It's the system and the environment we try to
create here and the organization -- the process, the way we practice, the way
we have training camp."
The quarterback-friendly offense is the centerpiece, however. The Lions' offense ranked 27th in the NFL last year and quarterback Charlie Batch, whose career has been stalled by injuries, ranked 30th among starting quarterbacks
in the league.
Batch might be the luckiest man in the NFL right now. Mornhinweg worked with the Packers' Brett Favre during his MVP years and the 49ers' Steve Young when he led the league in passing for the final time. However, his quarterback-coaching credentials were confirmed when he helped transform CFL refugee Jeff Garcia into a productive NFL quarterback the last two seasons.
Garcia made the Pro Bowl last season when the 49ers, despite self-imposed
salary cap restraints and the loss of Young, had one of the NFL's most
productive offenses.
"Charlie Batch will be terrific in (the offense)," Mariucci said.
"(Mornhinweg will) take that offense and go with it just like we did here and
Mike Holmgren did in Green Bay and Seattle and Mike Shanahan did in Denver
and on and on and on. ... (Batch) will be better the second year than he was
the first year and he will be better in the third year."
Mornhinweg disputes the commonly held notion that Batch has one year to
prove himself to the new staff. However, he doesn't argue with the belief
that the development of the quarterback is paramount to the success of the
new-look Lions.
"Most of the offense drops right on the quarterback's shoulders,"
Mornhinweg said.
And most of the Lions' future drops right on the shoulders of Millen and
Mornhinweg, two guys who might not have a map but who still know where
they're going.
Tom Oates of the Wisconsin State Journal writes a weekly NFC column every other Thursday for ESPN.com.
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