Jim Caldwell after winning the super bowl…
If Caldwell just had the balls to be less conservative and fire bad coordinators then he could have been the one to break the no playoff win streak.
I always love that thing. LOL
Stafford put Caldwell in a bind though too since he advocated for JBC which was a tremendous opportunity to JBC
But I can’t say for sure who really called that shot vs it being a reasonable request but may not have actually got the lions the next great OC
Yeah but the talent wasn’t at all comparable imo. The year he had the great defense. We got hosed by the refs. And that O-line and RB room forced Matthew Stafford to play with broken bones
But that band didn’t stay together long. If you’re talking about only 2014 then reggie bush had less than 300 yards rushing. Theo Rodrick had 51 
.
The O-line is a lot of times as bad as the weakest link. So having 3 “solid” guys isn’t saying much considering Reid was a RT playing LT and Swanson was very limited. Warford was by far our best guy.
People get so rose colored about the talent and abilities of the players we had because Caldwell was getting the most out of his players. But these guys were scrubs and shouldn’t have been starting. Just like Jerry Jacobs and kindle vildor. And their careers pretty much ended here. I guess you could say joiique bell was our cam Sutton.
Despite all of that. If Stafford doesn’t break his finger and the refs don’t give the cowboys that game we could have won multiple playoff games and this convo would be entirely different.
But it’s a bit disingenuous to discount the importance of the Oline. When Reggie bush cracked 1000 yards in 2013 that was the first lion to do it since Kevin jones in 2004. Our line talent and coaching with Ron prince were atrocious!
Dan plays to win
Caldwell played to not lose
100%
Caldwell played it safe while Dan takes risks. Both resulted in winning games.
Caldwell had Mayhew and Quinn and neither did a good job of giving him a running game worth a salt. I really think that is a large factor in why Caldwell struggled at mediocrity. More so than his safe play.
Also Ron Prince wasn’t a very good OL coach and Jim wasn’t going to let Ron go. He was clearly a weak link and the lack of a run game was ultimately Jim’s downfall.
But by that justification, shouldn’t this be more about the coordinators and not the head coach?
Also, this is mostly just a comparison of 2014 vs now. Let’s not forget that between Mayhew and Caldwell, the 2014 team quickly fell apart in subsequent years. They made a ton of bad decisions. Plus, we did have some horrendous injury luck. Honestly the person I blame the most for wasting Calvin and Stafford is Mayhew. We were a very good team, but had quite a few older players in 2014. We paid a lot of guys money that didn’t work out, and our following couple drafts were horrendous. Titus young, Mikel leshoure, etc. Our roster quickly went from a team that could compete to one that Caldwell basically just tried to hold it close and hope that Stafford could have the ball last.
Not that I thought Caldwell was all that , in hindsight I look at him as better than I thought he was
But his downfall was BQ
Not the run game.
BQ was angling for Patricia. Caldwell was on his way out even with a run game.
Ron Prince , Lombardi and JBC were huge decisions that also seemed to set course
JBC was better than who Caldwell originally hired
Which is kinda strange cause Oline was the only position Quinn drafted well.
True about Ronnie but it felt like Mathew tampered heavily in his final year trying to recreate the saints offense and drafting ebron. It just didn’t seem like a thing conservative Caldwell would do at all.
It did seem like somebody was pushing for it
@Richard_Parker but that has little to do with if JBC was good enough.
At that period in time
They might’ve been able to hire McVay as their OC
Everybody hates the flag
But in 2014
Was a pass to little used Pettigrew on games most crucial play
Really the best call ?
I’m just saying that’s not what set Caldwell back……his first hired OC, to me, is what set him back. When JBC took over as OC the offense started playing better, started scoring more and the team finished like 6-2 on the season. Now I’ll give you that JBC didn’t sustain that hot start….but I still think it was Lombardi that held Caldwell back.
The historical lack of run game had something to do with it. But I suppose you’re putting some of that blame on Caldwell. Which is fair. But NOBODY seemed to be able to get this run game going like MCDC has.
It’s been literal decades
I think because the RB position has gotten so devalued and the Lions regimes of the past bought into it. But this one doesn’t ….which is why you saw them pick Gibbs at, what, #12??