The Detroit Lions' 28-19 loss at the hands of the division rival Minnesota Vikings on Sunday was apparently enough for Lions general manager Martin Mayhew and the rest of the franchise's decision-makers. On Monday, Mayhew made the decision to fire offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi, according to a report from Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. The team has since confirmed Lombardi's firing and the other subsequent moves.
The team also chose to part ways with offensive line coach Jeremiah Washburn and assistant offensive line coach Terry Heffernan, according to ESPN's Adam Caplan, via Adam Schefter.
Tim Twentyman reports that Jim Bob Cooter will take over as offensive coordinator and current tight ends coach Ron Prince will take over as offensive line coach. Devin Fitzsimmons will assume Prince's former role with the tight ends.
The ousting of Lombardi and Washburn likely comes as little surprise to Lions fans after the Vikings sacked Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford seven times on Sunday, putting a lick on him a total of 13 times. After the game, Lions players and coaches seemed almost befuddled by their inability to protect their franchise signal-caller.
"It's all across the board," head coach Jim Caldwell said during his Monday press conference, via Twentyman. "There were a couple of errors that were made by an offensive lineman, maybe an error that was made by a back, an error made by a tight end, they're all part of that whole gamut.
"So it was not just one single thing every time, so it was a couple of issues."
As Twentyman notes, much of the blame for the constant pressure against Minnesota was placed at Stafford's feet by outlets like Pro Football Focus. But in a quarterback-driven league, Stafford is really the only piece the team can't change.
Earlier Monday, Caldwell said that there were no coaching staff changes planned ahead of the team's trip to London to face the Kansas City Chiefs. 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 last year.
Now, Lombardi and Washburn are gone, and the questions about Caldwell's job security are likely to begin swirling as well.
