Detroit Lions fans fume about Millen's role as football analyst

January 6, 11:27 AMSports ExaminerPaula Duffy

Previous Next

14 comments Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Sports Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Should Matt Millen be entitled to go on the air as a football analyst if he was drummed out of the Detroit Lions organization for non-performance?

There are people out there who want Michael Vick to get a second chance to play in the NFL after he is released from prison. There must be room for Millen in the football community if he didn't destroy a living thing, right? You'd be surprised.

There is certainly some outrage in the fan base of the Lions and among fans of other teams. The general feeling is that Millen can't be considered credible to give opinions about the performance of players and coaches since he seemed to make one bad decision after another. Here is what Steve Schrader of the Detroit Free Press had to say:

Lion fans never will be able to listen to Millen pontificate about football and separate it from what he did in this town."

Those decisions gave us insight into his judgment about players and coaches. With the horrendous record of the team during his tenure as an exec why would a television audience want to listen to him or even trust what he says?

Part of what broadcasters rely on is likability and some of their appeal is whether viewers believe they are hearing the opinion of someone who knows what he is talking about.

Apparently NBC Sports thought enough of his previous role as a broadcaster to put him back into a chair behind a desk. Fans might have forgotten that he was a smooth-talking analyst who was considered good enough to whisk away to the front office of one of only 32 teams in the National Football League.

That might have been a bad decision by the owners of the Lions and this might be another bad one made by NBC. I believe that Millen should have taken a break from the sport and saddled up in the off -season when there isn't as much at stake as there is during the playoffs. You know, like for the draft. Your thoughts?