ALLEN PARK Certainly the firing of offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi along with offensive line coaches Jeremiah Washburn and Terry Heffernan is a wake-up call for the Lions especially those on the offensive line.
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The shakeup comes less than 24 hours after Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford was sacked seven times in a28-19 loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.
QB coach Jim Bob Cooter will replace Lombardi as the offensive coordinator, while tight ends coach Ron Prince will coach the offensive line.
Special Teams assistant Devin Fitzsimmons will take over as the new tight ends coach as Prince is moving to coach the offensive line, the team said.
“What I believe is we’ve won before, and that leads me to believe we can do it again”, Caldwell said. He said he still believed that his current staff, including Lombardi and Washburn, could again win 11 games and find its way to the postseason as it did just previous year.
Head coach Jim Caldwell was very cryptic when asked in his press conference earlier today if changes were coming to his coaching staff. He said none were planned at that time (12:30) but said he wasn’t ruling it out in the future. But we usually only focus at one game, one game at a time.
Fixing the offense starts by getting more from the offensive line and it will be up to new voices to help get them there. “I hope I come back on this plane, still on the team, I can tell you that”.
The team flies to London on Monday night to face the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday at Wembley Stadium.
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And Caldwell said he’s not sure whether staff changes could be in order when the team returns from London next week – or at any point this season. Caldwell said he did not consider taking over that role himself. That’s the only thing I can control.
