Are the Fords "great owners"

As a Lions fan, do you view the Ford family as “great owners” of your favorite team, the Detroit Lions?

  • Yes
  • No

0 voters

I feel like the Lions are just a fun outing after church, for the Ford family. They were just proud to own the team, had fun with it, and were completely okay with just the experience of the stadium, the fans, the profit, etc. Sucks for fans.

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From who’s perspective?

Lol - I’m being purposely stupid here I know I know the fans…

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Early exit polls are leaning towards BTP. Let’s see how it plays out, Cotton. :slight_smile:

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Sandbagger

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I can’t say they are great. I believe the Fords are good people. I believe that they want to win. It has been proven time and time again that the Lions are NOT cheap. The Fords will spend. They will fire coaches with years left on their deals. Millen was the highest paid GM in the league.

Sadly, the Fords are incompetent when it comes to putting a winning product on the field. Good ownership does not allow Matt Millen to stay in his position as long as he did. Good ownership does not hire Matt Millens right hand man to take over for 7 years. Good ownership does not allow Quinn to Fire Caldwell in order to hire Patricia. Good ownership does not allow themselves to take it from behind by the NFL repeatedly. I am not old enough to remember Russ Thomas days… but apparently very bad. They do not meddle, but times as owners you need to step up, and put your foot down. They’re not assertive enough IMO.

I voted no. They aren’t great owners… but I also have respect for them.

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The record says no…and if winning is the only criteria for what makes you a good owner then they aren’t. I am not sure it is that simple. I will say I think they are good people, good bosses in general. An older buddy of mine, his dad was a chauffeur for the fords for 50 years and swore up and down you never met a nicer person, who was always good to his people. I figure a chauffeur might see a side of someone the general public might not. :man_shrugging:t2:

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I voted yes they are loyal to team an to people ( Fans) Have they made right calls no but they have tried an Ford s have done a lot for Michigan an for NFL . Who do you think helped Wilson buy Bills an Jerry get Cowboys .

They just never made the right moves for the Lions but its not for lack of trying an spending money.

You don’t have to like the moves they made to win , but how they treated Michigan an the NFL they are respected an Fans should respect that also.

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Great? No.

Loyal? To a fault.

Generous? Post-Russ Thomas era, yes

You win.
I was wrong.

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I voted no reluctantly… I think they’re good in the aspect of wanting to win, spending the money and remaining hands off (not being a Daniel Snyder). But they don’t run a very tight ship and I don’t believe they’re feared. I think a little bit of fear is necessary in a results based business such as this. I think that they’re very nice people who don’t know how to get results.

That’s pretty much it.

There are no winners here. As Lions fans, we are all losers.

I do think Iggy’s post is funny though. Says they want to win, then posts a dozen terrible, lazy moves.

Want to win, but extend Millen for being garbage juice, then keep his coffee boy around to replace him? Lazy and cheap.

Want to win, but take it in the butt by the NFL and the refs repeatedly, and accept it with open arms? Never once standing up for the paying fan base. Not once.

The Ford’s are in hiding 365 days a year. Always have been. What would make anyone think they “want to win”? If they came out with passion and ripped the refs or didn’t give BJs to guys when they let them go, that would be a start. I want an owner that has a speck of passion, is involved more, knows what football is, and demands success.

Reason #394997 why the Ford’s don’t care about winning: We just won 3 games, the team quit, players left disgruntled and Martha’s once a year statement was “We expect to compete for the playoffs”. Like WTF does that mean??? In the NFL, like 30 teams are competing for the playoffs past Thanksgiving. Most terrible teams don’t technically get eliminated till December.

Wants to win, but lowers the bar after a terrible 4 years under Quinn? Not buying that they care or want to win. They simply do just the bare minimum to keep under the radar. They make the NFL money and make themselves huge money whether they win or lose. Good owners want to win, the Fords would take winning if it came, but they are good either way.

You’re right that there are no winners .
I’d say their condition is more “fatally optimistic”.
The same condition exists in Quinn.

No. They do not possess the killer instinct to be winners.
There are no expectations involved with working for them. The only guy who was held to any sort of expectations was the most successful coach in their history. He had 3 winning seasons out of 4 and was fired.
Constantly hiring incompetent GMs is a major fault. I don’t really remember Pre-Millen, but it would be hard pressed to find 3 worst GMs since Millen than the Lions have had.

Totally agree with this PLUS the oft-forgotten and underrated aspect that the Fords care deeply about Detroit and Michigan, and they did not try to get the city, county, and/or state to pay for their stadium. There is very little shot that any new ownership would give two shits about the community, and a larger possibility of the team getting moved in the future than most here believe.

The Fords are way better than average for most ownership stuff. Their hiring / firing of GMs has been really bad historically. The process was better this time (Quinn) even if the results have not been.

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There are no “great” owners. Just ones that got lucky.

The Ford Family are incompetent idiots. Totally clueless when it comes to hiring good football people. They couldn’t even recognize having the talent of Belichick on their payroll. I kid about that, but as owners they are the worst in history. The old man was a drunk but born with a silver spoon. They say former GM Russ Thomas was his drinking buddy for over two decades. google him.

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Yeah, it only took a drunk, who likes to go to rub and tug places, to give him full control a mere 25 years after he left the Lions organization. What a bunch of jackwagons!

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Robert Kraft is a self made billionaire. Don’t you dare compare the two!

Being a drunk does not mean you are stupid. Ford was both stupid and a lush, and born with a silver spoon.

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