Maybe Matt Millen's Smart After All

Matt Millen inexplicably appeared as an analyst on NBC's studio show Saturday night. As you'd expect, he addressed the whole 0-16 thing.

Millen said he was "completely responsible" for the Lions' 0-16 record, adding, "You can say something about the coaching, you can say something about the players, but inevitably, I'm responsible for them."

When [Dan] Patrick asked Millen, "Would you have fired you?" Millen answered, "Yeah, I would have."

Chances are Millen would have fired himself before the Fords got around to it, if Millen weren't Millen. For all his faults (and by "all" I mean "ALL"), Millen usually showed an understanding that certain things were not working. Millen didn't stay too attached to bad coaches, didn't hang on to mediocre quarterbacks too long and drafted some decent receivers. I mean, he wasn't as bad an NFL talent evaluator as Steve Spurrier, right?

He is the worst GM in recent NFL history, and might take the cake for all major American sports (with a nod toward Isiah Thomas). But at least he knew he sucked. The Fords couldn't figure that out after all those down years, allowing an already bad situation to fester into something out of a horror film. This afternoon's AFC wild card game shows the value of understanding you suck. Millen understood that. He just couldn't do anything about it. (Because he sucked.)

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.