Just how crazy stupid was Matt Millen?

The evidence continues to pile up.

Just think about this for a moment....Matt Millen had eight years of complete czar-like iron fisted control of the Lions franchise. He had a scouting department. He had a multitude of underlings including his right hand man, Martin Mayhew.

The average turn around time for the "average" NFL franchise is usually 2-3 years. Some organizations manage to do it much faster...but Matt Millen proved that even in the age of parity, you could also choose to not do it at all.

What is most awe-strikingly amazing about the new Lions turnaround and hope is...it's being done by all of the guys that Matt Millen hired! Please look at the last line of the first paragraph....Martin Mayhew, current Lions GM, was Millen's right hand man!

What does this mean? Does it mean that Mayhew learned so much at the "foot of the master" that he became a very good GM? Not likely.

What it really means is that Millen was smart enough to hire very competent people and then so incredibly concrete-lobed to refuse every bit of their council.

Matt Millen thought he was so intelligent, so experienced in what it takes to win in the NFL that he thought he could work for half weeks, do no research, and simply fly by the instincts in his gut.

What we learned was that Matt Millen's guts were full of...

When scouts and coaches were telling Millen that Joey Blue Skies was not the QB everybody was proclaiming him to be...Millen ignored them.

When scouts and coaches were telling Millen that the Lions really needed Clinton Portis and not Kalimba Edwards...Millen ignored them.

When scouts and coaches and fans and everybody else for that matter was telling Millen we didn't need to draft another damned receiver in the first round...what did Millen do? That's right, he ignored everybody, because he "knew" what it takes to be a winner.

There were countless more examples of Millen "knowing" contrary to the advice he received throughout his entire eight year hell, culminating with the hiring of a DL coach who may or may not have been mentally damaged as the team's final head coach.

We will have to watch the future of Rod Marinelli, but what is very interesting is that Steve Mariucci had great success, before landing with Millen. Marty Morninweg has done nothing but grab accolades as Assistant Head Coach and offensive coordinator for the Eagles over the last several years...

Maybe those guys weren't too bad either...Millen just never listened to anybody.