Lions fire GM Martin Mayhew, president Tom Lewand

— -- The Detroit Lions, after a 1-7 start, have fired general manager Martin Mayhew and president Tom Lewand, sources told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter on Thursday.

The changes come less than a week after Mayhew said the franchise would be buyers at the trade deadline and then made no moves in either acquiring or trading players. The Lions also suffered a blowout 45-10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in London on Sunday.

Lions owner Martha Ford is expected to address the media at 2 p.m. ET on Thursday.

The 50-year-old Mayhew was hired by the Lions on an interim basis after the team fired Matt Millen during the 0-16 season in 2008. After the year, Detroit lifted the interim title and made him GM.

He initially hired Jim Schwartz, who led the Lions to the playoffs in 2011, but fired him following the 2013 season and replaced him with Jim Caldwell.

Lewand was hired by the Lions as their team president on Dec. 29, 2008, and worked 20 seasons with the Lions, including six as the team's president.

Both Lewand and Mayhew combined to put together Detroit's current roster.

Mayhew admitted last Friday that he needed to be better in the draft as well. The Lions have no players left on the roster from the 2010 or 2011 drafts -- including first-round selections Ndamukong Suh and Nick Fairley. The Lions have also been unsuccessful with second-round picks, including receivers Titus Young and Ryan Broyles, running back Mikel Leshoure, safety Louis Delmas and linebacker Kyle Van Noy.

"I gotta do a better job drafting across the board in general," Mayhew told reporters on Friday. "And by no means do I mean I've been outstanding in terms of our draft. We've drafted some really good players and we've missed on some players. I think if you look around the league, that's pretty common.

"But we want to be perfect. We want to be perfect."

Lions receiver Golden Tate seemed shocked by Thursday's moves, per his Twitter account.

At the time, a large part of why the Lions hired Caldwell was his success with the Colts and with quarterback Peyton Manning. The hope from the Lions was that Caldwell could help quarterback Matthew Stafford, who did make the Pro Bowl last season.

The Lions, however, have struggled to find their identity on offense. Stafford is on pace for his worst statistical season in passing yards (2,083 through eight games), and his touchdown-to-interception ratio is on pace (13 touchdowns, 11 interceptions) to be his worst since 2012 (20 touchdown, 17 interceptions).

In addition, the Lions still have the worst rushing attack in the league by almost 15 yards, gaining 69.62 yards per game on the ground (the Browns are second worst at 84 yards per game).

As a player, Mayhew went to Florida State and then was a cornerback for Washington and Tampa Bay. He also went to Georgetown Law School.