Monarrez: Time for Lions to fire Caldwell, clean house

THREE QUESTIONS WITH … CARLOS MONARREZ

Should Jim Caldwell be the Lions’ coach the rest of the season?

No. He should be fired as soon as the team plane lands in Detroit and he meets with owner Martha Ford. He’s responsible for the team’s performance and for the second time in four weeks the team appeared to give up and give less than a full effort. Caldwell was supposed to make quarterback Matthew Stafford better and he hasn’t. But the offense has regressed even from last year’s disappointing finish. And the defense has taken a big step backward without Ndamukong Suh and DeAndre Levy. But the defense has had its moments and that alone should earn Teryl Austin the interim coaching job.

Should Caldwell alone be fired?

No. Team president Tom Lewand and general manager Martin Mayhew need to go, although those moves should be made after the season. You can’t fire them right now and install someone like Ron Wolf instantly to pick up the pieces. That means no trades or major personnel moves this season. (Sorry, Calvin, you’re staying put.) But the firings shouldn’t stop with Lewand and Mayhew. Ford needs to bring in the hazmat team and do an entire house cleaning. Let me repeat that: En. Tire. House. Cleaning. Anyone at the vice president level and above who deals with football operations needs to go. This regime has been in place long enough to show us that it hasn’t worked with any consistency. I don’t take pleasure in calling for anyone’s job, but the tough reality of the sports business is that if you don’t win, you don’t (or shouldn’t) keep your job.

Why did the team look so bad?

If Caldwell was telling the truth when he said it was his decision to fire offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi the same day they left for London, the blame for this “performance” sits squarely on Caldwell’s shoulders. Imagine this: Your company is struggling and it’s about to have a high-profile meeting in Europe. Hours before the whole company boards a charter flight, the CEO fires a vice president and two division chiefs. No one on the flight is supposed to talk about it and then they’re expected to have a great business meeting that week. Idiotic. I’m sure the players respect Caldwell as a person, but these kinds of performances make it look like players aren’t buying what he’s selling as a coach.