The Lions running game

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Will a new coach do a better job of "running" the Lions?
by Tony Nistler, STATS. Inc.
Wednesday, January 29 Updated 2:02 PM EST


So you think you've got it tough at your job. . .

While it may not be fair, or even appropriate, to compare the daily pratfalls and pitfalls associated with making a living in the "real world" with those that face head coaches in the National Football League, consider for a moment at least the daunting task that lies ahead for the next field leader of the Detroit Lions. Whichever candidate finds himself standing at the podium alongside team president Matt Millen and owner William Clay Ford Sr. also will find himself in charge of a team that some may argue has fallen to just a notch above the Bengals on the "laughing-stock" meter in the NFL.

The Lions are just 5-27 over the past two seasons. They have not won a road game during that span (0-16), and they have turned the ball over 23 more times than they have taken it away. They will be making their fourth coaching change since the end of the 1996 campaign. They are 1-9 in the postseason since 1957 -- the year of their last NFL championship. They are being piloted by a president who has yet to prove that he can make a successful transition from analyzing games on TV to building a winning football program. And after a series of questionable free-agent moves last year that included giving big dollars to disappointing wide receivers Bill Schroeder and Az-Zahir Hakim, the team still seems to be mired in rebuilding mode.

Oh, and there's still that "ghost of Barry Sanders" thing to address.

One of the primary tasks of the next head coach of the Lions will be to rejuvenate a running game that has yet to fully regain consciousness since Sanders' abrupt departure following the 1998 season. In that final '98 campaign, Sanders posted eight 100-yard rushing games. In the four seasons since, Lions running backs have combined for a total of eight such efforts. And during that span, Detroit consistently has finished near the bottom of the NFL in both grinding out yards on the ground and controlling the clock.


Lions' Regular-Season NFL Ranks
Rush Offense Time of Possession
2002 29 32
2001 28 27
2000 20 15
1999 28 24


Yes, current Lions starting running back James Stewart has managed to top the 1,000-yard mark in both 2000 and 2002, but the Lions have failed to finish better than 20th as a team in total rushing yards in any of the past four seasons. In contrast, in four seasons leading up to and including '98, Detroit never ranked below 14th in overall rushing and placed as high as second in 1997.

An ineffective running game has done little to help the Lions in the category of time of possession, either. Last year, Detroit held the ball for an average of just 25 minutes and 44 seconds per contest -- the lowest figure in the league. Time of possession can be a misleading stat, especially when looking at a single game, but when measured over the course of an entire season, TOP can be very telling. Take 2002, for example, when nine of the top 11 clubs in time of possession made the postseason.

Then there is the little matter of finding the end zone via the run. Sanders may not have been a scoring machine (largely due to the Lions' questionable policy of often pulling him in goal-line situations), but he usually found a way to post double-digit rushing TD totals by the end of most years. Since his exit, however, Detroit running backs have struggled to find the end zone on the ground.


Fewest Rush TD by Running Backs -- 1999-2002
Eagles 22
Bears 27
Browns 30
Panthers 30
Lions 31


Over the past two years, Stewart has managed just five rushing touchdowns -- the same total he posted in a single game with the Jaguars back in 1997. Certainly the other clubs on the second list have struggled during the past four years to find an identity on the ground, with the possible exception of the Eagles, who get a substantial portion of their running game -- and 14 rushing touchdowns since 1999 -- from quarterback Donovan McNabb.

But unlike McNabb, Lions signal caller Joey Harrington is not going to put many points on the board with his legs. Harrington may not put many points on the board with his arm, either, if the Lions fail to establish a consistent, eat-up-some-clock, find-the-end zone-type running game. Detroit's next head coach (or Millen, or both) must quickly decide if Stewart can remain the club's feature back, or whether the team needs to go in another direction via free agency or the draft. One thing Millen and his future head coach already know for certain is that Sanders is not coming back. They'd just like to get rid of his ghost now, as well.

That, however, is proving to be a very tough job, indeed