Marinelli Expects Lions to Be Miserable

When GM Matt Millen hired Rod Marinelli as head coach of the Detroit Lions and Marinelli proceeded to grab Mike Martz as his offensive coordinator, you just knew a more hard-working, nose-to-the-grindstone attitude would be prevalent in the 2006 squad.

Marinelli was a tough minded defensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Martz orchestrated an offense dubbed 'The Greatest Show on Turf' in St. Louis. Even though it was a finesse offense, Martz was an exacting coach who demanded the best from his players.

Millen, while failing thus far in the front office, was harder than nails on the football field. Number 55 would run around with reckless abandon acting like every play was his last. It's this triumvirate that will try and rebuild a hapless Lions squad that hasn't made the playoffs since 1999 or won a championship since 1957.

Now that the formalities of mini-camp are out of the way and the real honest to goodness training camp is just a month a way, Marinelli and Millen are letting every player know that they can expect to be miserable.

"I learned this a long time ago: you've got to learn to be comfortable with being miserable to play this game," said Millen on the Detroit Lions website. "If the coaches are not pushing you and they're not making you be uncomfortable, you're not going to get any better. So, you've got to get comfortable with being a little miserable."

Marinelli came into this head coaching position looking to make some men miserable. He expressed from the time he arrived in Detroit that he would work the Lions players hard, and he has said recently that he is planning on starting each and every training camp practice in pads.

"It's going to be a very rigorous and challenging camp," said Marinelli. "They've got to be prepared for that, and that's set for them and then the next phase is going through camp. Hopefully our conditioning keeps reprising as we're going. And the biggest part: if they come in here in-shape, they can play faster.

"When you get in condition, people think, 'oh you don't get tired.' No. All it does is allow you to play faster, longer. You still feel miserable, which is fine. But it's playing more snaps at a higher level. That's our goal. More snaps at a higher level."

If anyone can get it done in the Motor City, it's the Marinelli-Martz combo. With Mad Mike handling the offense and Marinelli the defense, the Lions will be a well conditioned, hard-working, tough group.

It's that conditioning and mental toughness that will be the makeup of the new-look Detroit Lions. They will be a tougher opponent in 2006. Whether that translates into more victories remains to be seen.


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