Plenty of Meaning for Lions

Ah, late October in Detroit. The leaves change, the temperature drops and the Lions begin in earnest their annual migration to NFL irrelevance.

This season, though, the team’s rite of autumn has taken a hard left. It’s almost November, and the Lions are playing a game today that actually means something. They play host to Chicago for first place in the NFC North. Both teams are 3-3. Other than season openers, this marks the first time these teams have met with first place on the line since Thanksgiving 1991.

“This is the closest we’re going to get to the Super Bowl at this point in the season because we’ve got so much riding on it,” Lion tight end Marcus Pollard said.

In most circles, the mere mention of the Lions and Super Bowl in the same sentence can elicit chuckles, unless the subject is Detroit playing host to Super Bowl XL in February. True, the Lions have a meaningful game today, but they’re far removed from playing championship football.

By benching quarterback Joey Harrington last Sunday and replacing him with Jeff Garcia, the franchise essentially crumpled its four-year rebuilding plan and tossed it out the window. Harrington, selected third overall in 2002 draft, was once the centerpiece of what the Lions hoped would be their offensive renaissance in the post-Barry Sanders era.

But Harrington wasn’t a great fit for the dink-and-dunk philosophy of Coach Steve Mariucci, who arrived the season after the quarterback was drafted. Mariucci, largely inflexible when it comes to altering his offense, has quietly longed for more of a West Coast-style quarterback such as the scrambling Garcia, whom he coached at San Francisco.

Harrington, a hard worker who openly admitted all the booing from Lion fans got to him, says he’ll be ready to return to the starting lineup if asked, but it’s unlikely that will happen soon. His career in Detroit is probably over. Not only is that four years of coaching down the drain, but more than $20 million in salary and bonuses.

Typically, Harrington handled his demotion with maturity.

“When we had our conversation, there wasn’t much of a discussion,” Mariucci said. “I told him what we were going to do, and I said, ‘I would expect you to stay ready and prepare like you’re going to play. If and when you get your chance again, be ready to win for us.’ And he said, ‘You can count on that. You know that’s how I’m going to be.’ ”

Not so long ago, Detroit appeared to be so loaded with talent at receiver that one football wouldn’t be enough. Harrington had his pick of three top-10 selections: Charles Rogers, Roy Williams and Mike Williams. Now, Rogers has a week to go on his four-game suspension for violating the league’s drug policy; Roy Williams is sidelined because of a strained quadriceps; and Mike Williams, the former USC star, has been good but not spectacular, with fumbles in each of the last two games. Pollard is the team’s leading receiver with 13 catches, slightly more than two a game.

Whether that modest productivity can be blamed on Harrington, his receivers or circumstance is unclear. What is known is the Lions haven’t progressed the way they had hoped when the club hired Matt Millen to run it four-plus years ago. The failed Harrington experiment put even more pressure on an already strained relationship between Millen and Mariucci, and if the team continues to lose, either one of them could be on the chopping block.

Millen, who recently received a five-year contract extension, confirmed to a Michigan newspaper this week that the pact does not involve guaranteed money and is similar to a player’s contract.

“I want to be here for five years,” he told the Daily Oakland (Mich.) Press, “but if [owner William Clay Ford] doesn’t want me to, I’ll walk. No strings attached.”

For the moment, the Lions hope the change at quarterback will make the difference. Garcia has a 2-1 lifetime record against the Bears and threw for a combined 900 yards in those games, all of which came when he played for the 49ers. As for his performance last Sunday in a victory over Cleveland, Garcia said: “I think I was just barely scratching the surface.”

The same could be said of the Lions. They’re scratching the surface, they’re staying relevant. Now, they hope to keep it that way.

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Numbers game

A look at Detroit quarterback Jeff Garcia’s statistics when playing under Lion Coach Steve Mariucci versus other coaches:

*--* Under Mariucci Under Others W-L as starter 31-28 8-15 Completion pct. 62.2% 57.3% Pass yds/game 224.4 184.8 TD/INT ratio 2.2 (95/43) 1.3 (28/22) Passer rating 89.8 78.8

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Rookie Mike Williams from USC had his best game as a pro last week against Cleveland in Garcia’s first start for the Lions:

*--* First 5 games Last week Thrown to 12 7 Catches 7 5 Yards 59 95 First downs 4 4 Longest catch 14 yds 49 yds

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Source: STATS LLC