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The Lions can't get it right, and John U. Bacon says bad coaching is a big reason

The Detroit Lions prepare to take on the Minnesota Vikings.
The Detroit Lions
The Detroit Lions prepare to take on the Minnesota Vikings.
The Detroit Lions prepare to take on the Minnesota Vikings.
Credit The Detroit Lions
The Detroit Lions prepare to take on the Minnesota Vikings.

The Lions have won only one game this year, and in their most recent game, Matt Stafford suffered 13 hits, seven sacks, and the Lions went from a 17-6 lead over Minnesota to a 28-19 loss.

Bacon says to the Ford family's credit, they've stayed out of the way as the team struggles.

"They're pretty much everything you want in owners except an inability to hire the right coach," he says.

John U. Bacon shares his thoughts on the Lions, and grades the play of U of M and MSU.

Bacon thinks team president TomLewandis smart and will eventually get it right. But he doesn't feel that way about head coach Jim Caldwell.

"Jim Caldwell is clearly not the guy, in my opinion," he says.

Bacon looks to Caldwell's warning to his quarterback during a game as a sign of his bad coaching.

"He told Matt Stafford ... 'If you throw one more pick, I'm going to pull ya."

"Man, let me tell you right now. If a high school coach did that, I would throw a flag and say, 'this is the wrong approach.' In the pros it's no better," says Bacon.

Nor does he think Matt Stafford is good enough.

"He has not won an away game over a winning team. He just can't. And you'll not go very far in that league with an inability to play a good team at their place."

In terms of college football, Bacon gives both the U of M and MSU an "A -" for different reasons.

U of M for playing above their expectations, and MSU, at 8-0, for keeping that streak alive...even if some of those wins were a little ugly.  

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