Ernie Accorsi: Lions' Martha Ford is 'tired of losing' Accorsi, advising the Lions in their search for a GM, says Ford resembles other famous NFL matriarchs in history

Brian Manzullo | Detroit Free Press

It seemed like the state of Detroit Lions ownership was in flux when William Clay Ford, Sr. passed away in March 2014.

Instead, his wife, Martha Firestone Ford, has taken control of the operation -- and made sweeping changes in the process.

After a 1-7 start to this Lions season, she fired team president Tom Lewand, replacing him with Rod Wood. General manager Martin Mayhew went out the door as well.

And she has already appeared to have made an impact on Ernie Accorsi, the former NFL GM hired by Ford to guide the Lions' search for Mayhew's replacement.

"All I know is she wants to win -- now," Accorsi told ESPN writer Johnette Howard, who wrote a long feature for the Worldwide Leader on the 90-year-old Ford. "She wants this so badly. She really does. She's tired of losing."

Accorsi also compared Ford with that of Chicago Bears principal owner Virginia Halas McCaskey and former New York Giants matriarch Ann Mara, who passed away Feb. 1.

"All of them are elegant, tough-minded, smart, in-control women," Accorsi told Howard. "And feisty."

Howard's writing of Ford paints a picture of a Lions ownership style that differs from that of Ford's late husband, who purchased the team in 1963 and experienced just one playoff win in the 50-plus years he oversaw the franchise.

More from Howard:

Now it is Martha who attends the league meetings; it is Martha to whom Accorsi will present his short list of GM candidates; and it is Martha who calls the league office and commissioner Roger Goodell to protest blown calls, which she did when a Seahawks player batted a loose ball out of the end zone -- an illegal maneuver the refs missed -- to secure Seattle's Week 4 victory over the Lions. "She gave them a piece of her mind," Caldwell told reporters. To longtime Lions observers, the shift in tone is dramatic. While her husband was widely eulogized last year as a lovely guy -- genial, generous, admirably devoted to the community during Detroit's long struggle for an economic recovery -- this was also noted: When it came to running the Lions, Bill Sr. was patient to a fault.

Since Ford fired Lewand and Mayhew, the Lions are 5-2 (though, admittedly, that likely has more to do with the softening schedule and other changes, including the firing of offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi and two other assistant coaches).

And she faces one more critical decision in the coming days and/or weeks: The hiring of the next Lions GM, with the help of Accorsi.

Accorsi asked her at the outset of the search what she was looking for. He says the takeaway Ford left him with was typically ambitious: "Don't think the person has to be experienced or safe or respectable and that's it. No. You hire someone you think has greatness in them."

You can read more here.

Contact Brian Manzullo: bmanzullo@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrianManzullo.

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