Lions' Coach Ross Retires
D E T R O I T, Nov. 6, 2000 -- Detroit Lions coach Bobby Ross retiredtoday, a day after an embarrassing blowout loss to Miami.
Assistant head coach Gary Moeller will take his place at leastfor the rest of this season. Detroit is 5-4.
“He felt he just burned himself out, physically and mentally,”team owner William Clay Ford said. “The gas tank was empty. … Ican assure you this is his own decision.”
Ross alluded to the possibility he would leave after Sunday’s23-8 loss to the Dolphins, calling it “one of the mostembarrassing losses I have ever had.”
“We showed right from the start of the game that we weren’tready to play, and ultimately, that is my responsibility. I won’tback down from that,” Ross said Sunday. “This loss is going tovery hard for me to digest. I’m going to have to go home andreflect on some things and talk them over with my wife.”
Moeller: No Big Changes Planned
In his fourth year with the Lions, Ross, 63, was 27-30 in theregular season and 0-2 in playoff appearances. He replaced WayneFontes, who was fired in December 1996.
Moeller received a three-year contract. He said Ross “did getburned out to some degree. He’s not hurting mentally in anyparticular way.
“Sometimes the pressures get a little heavy. By that I don’tmean that he’s not a fighter because he is a fighter. … Did I seeit coming? In some ways, possibly, because you hear a rumor hereand there. It was surprising to me in a way but understandable aswell.”
Moeller was fired as Michigan’s football coach in 1995 daysafter his arrest during a disturbance at a Detroit-area restaurant.He served two seasons as the Cincinnati Bengals’ tight ends coachbefore being hired in January 1997 as the Lions’ running backscoach. This year, the 58-year-old Moeller has served as anassistant head coach and linebackers coach.
Moeller said he doesn’t plan to make too many changes right now.
“Today, as we all know we sit there at 5-4. But I think we cangrow as a football team and can be better,” Moeller said.
Dismal Playoff Performances
Ross has had some well-documented blowups in the past afterespecially sloppy defeats. Miami (7-2) forced Detroit to turn theball over three times without giving the ball up once Sunday.
“What bothered me is that we never fought back,” Ross saidafter the game. “If there is one thing I want to leave with thepeople of Detroit, it is that I will always fight back. You wantyour team to be a model of yourself, and I’ve failed at that.”
In September, after the Lions lost 31-10 to Tampa Bay, Rossapologized to Detroit fans.
Last November at Arizona, Detroit cut the Cardinals’ lead to23-19 with 5:26 left, when Ross opted for a 2-point conversionattempt that fell short. The Lions later drove to the Arizona 11 inthe final minutes and could have tied the game with a short fieldgoal if they had kicked the extra point earlier. But forced to gofor the touchdown, the Lions failed.
“I decided to go for two points because I felt we were going toplay it to win it. I thought it through. It wasn’t a spontaneousdecision,” Ross said then. “I could probably look back on it andkick myself in the teeth, but I’m not going to do that because Ithought it through.”
Detroit’s franchise has struggled, though the team is tied forsecond place with Tampa Bay behind Minnesota in the NFC Central.The Lions got off to a good start last year, going 6-2 afterrunning back Barry Sanders’ surprise retirement.
But when it comes to playoffs, the record is dismal. Detroit haslost six straight playoff games since defeating the Dallas Cowboysin the divisional round of the 1991 season.
Since winning the NFL championship in 1957, the Lions have onlyqualified for the playoffs nine times. They went from that 1957title until 1970 before ever earning another playoff berth.
In all, Detroit is 1-9 in the playoffs since 1957.