In the history of the Detroit Lions not a single person who has held the position of "Head Coach" has ever left the organization and been able to take the same position with another NFL organization.

In other words, not a single Lions head coach has ever done the job well enough that another team thought maybe they could do it for them....in other words, the Lions have always had awful head coaches.

In this year of the Lions assault on "streaks" (ie winning on the road in the division, finally achieving a winning record, ending the playoff lapse, etc) may just extend to the "the Lions head coaching position is where coaches go to die" streak.

This week, former Lions HC Marty Mornhinweg will be interviewed by the Oakland Raiders new General Manager Reggie McKenzie as a candidate for the Raiders opening.

Mornhinweg put together a 5-27 record before being fired after the 2002 season. Since that embarrassment, he has spent the past nine seasons as an offensive assistant with the Eagles, including the past six as offensive coordinator.

Of all the coaches that have donned Honolulu blue and walked headlong into the insanity and oblivion of coaching the Leos, I think Marty Mornhinweg got the rawest deal and is most deserving of another gig...even more than Steve Mariucci.

Mariucci had a much larger say in what kind of players he got.  He was the favored coach of the worst GM in professional sports history...Mariucci had Millen's ear.  Two years before, when Millen first got the gig hired Mornhinweg as a "Marriucci-lite" and then forced all of his horrible decisions on him.

Marty probably had a say during his fist season--that draft produced both Jeff Backus and Dominic Raiola--but when he lost 13 in a row and finished 2-14...saddled with Charlie Batch, Ty Detmer, Johnnie Morton and James Stewart...he apparently lost all credibility with Millen.  The next draft...he got stuck with Joey "Blue Skies" Harrington, when he wanted CB Quentin Jammer...and it all just kept going down hill...

And then Mariucci became available and Marty was quickly shown the door...

But if you go back and look at the statistics...Marty--with players he didn't want--put up better offenses than Mariucci who had picked his own guys...although they were both stuck with Joey...

The only black marks on Mornhinweg's resume is his two year hell under the ironfisted numbskull rule of Matt Millen...oh...that and taking the wind instead of the ball after winning an overtime flip in Chicago...I'm sure that after eight years of usually very succesful season and the resurection of Micheal Vick and the creation of Kevin Kolb...he's probably learned better what to do if he manages to win the coin flip...

The world seems to have already pencilled in the Detroit Lions as the fifth or sixth seed in the NFC playoffs, but I wouldn't start buying tickets to San Francisco or New Orleans yet.  There is still a very real possibility that the Lions will not make the playoffs at all.

I know...I speak blasphemy, but look at who they play over the next two weeks, needing at least one win or a whole lot of help in order to make the big dance.  The Chargers have won three games in a row and have positioned themselves to have a shot at making the playoffs themselves.  They managed to beat Jacksonville and Buffalo and while those two teams have either imploded in the last few weeks--if not the whole season-- last week the Chargers put a 34-14 beat down on the playoff bound and Super Bowl contending Baltimore Ravens.

Philip Rivers, who was abysmal the first half of the season has not thrown an interception in this three game winning streak and has completed over 70% of his passes.

If the Lions can't beat the Chargers this year...they always have a chance to clinch next week...against the Packers...at Lambeau...where they haven't won since 1991.

1. The Lions haven't beaten the Chargers since 1978...another one of those long losing streaks the Lions can break this season.

2. This year the Lions are 3-0 against the AFC West.

3. I always like to see the Chargers and namely, corner back Quentin Jammer, the guy the Lions were supposed to take instead of Joey "Blue Skies" Harrington.  The great thing about Jammer is...he's still playing.  He many not be a Hall of Famer, but he's been consistent and durable for years.

4. The Chargers are playing to show that they really are that preseason Super Bowl contender that many prognosticators thought them to be.  They're also playing to help head coach Norv Turner help keep his job.  Turner has kind of become the modern day Wayne Fontes...somebody that fans and media are always calling for firing, but mounts a late season resurrection.

5. If this truly is the year to break all of those old streaks then the Lions probably beat the Chargers...and then they miraculously beat the Packers next week and also manage to get sent out to San Francisco for their playoff game, where they haven't won since the 70's also...and manage a trip to the NFC Divisional round...

6.  Yeah, I'm not buying it either.

Chargers Offense vs Lions Defense

Philip Rivers has been on fire.  The Lions secondary is depleted. That's not a good combination.

Furthermore, Jim Schwartz vehemently denied that the "Wide 9" defense that the Lions employ stresses pass rush at the expense of run defense...which the Lions have proven, despite having one of the most talented and destructive defensive lines, to be very poor at...If the defensive design isn't flawed...then something needs to get fixed, because Ryan Matthews will run all over the Lions if they do not clean this up.

Advantage: Chargers

Chargers Defense vs Lions Offense

Quentin Jammer can't contain Calvin Johnson.  Antoine Cason cannot contain Calvin Johnson.  If the Matthew Stafford doesn't contain Calvin Johnson--by completely missing him with passes or forgetting him altogether--the Lions can score on the Chargers. 

But the Lions still need to figure out some kind of running game to keep the Chargers honest.

Advantage: Lions

Prediction:

I am a long time Lions fan, which means that I expect disappointment.  Furthermore, the more the talking heads in the media keep assuming the Lions making the playoffs is almost a foregone conclusion, the more I'm assured that they will not be playing in the playoffs.  Somebody has got to shut those guys up.  They're jinxing us.

Chargers 34, Lions 21