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Happy Matt Millen Firing Day, Lions Fans!

Detroit Lions fans celebrated an important holiday yesterday, honoring the two-year mark since the team fired general manager Matt Millen. To mark the occasion, The Sidelion Report provides us with some cleverly captioned photographs that are sure to bring back some great memories.

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Millen was fired on September 24, 2008 after the Lions dropped the first three games of their 0-16 season. He accumulated a 31-84 record during his eight seasons, but really we should be able to tack on the other 13 losses in 2008 to his resume, since it was still his players out there failing miserably. 

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Perhaps we should call this "Thank Bill Ford Jr. Day." If Ford Jr. hadn't made his remarks about firing Millen, it's entirely possible this clown would still be running the team. As a Lions fan, I shudder at the thought of that. To remind owner William Clay Ford why it was a good thing to fire Millen, here's some of his more dubious stats as GM:

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  • Overall record of 31-84 (worst eight year stretch in team history)
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  • Went from 2001-2004 without winning a road game (0-24)
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  • Received five-year extension in 2005 despite poor record and was second-highest paid GM in the league
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  • Accumulated at least nine losses every season 
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  • Drafted three top ten draft picks(Joey Harrington, Mike Williams, Charles Rogers) that are no longer in the NFL
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  • Took receivers with first draft selection four times in five years
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↵I'll stop there, but there's a lot more damage Millen did that the Lions are still trying to correct (like ignoring the defense for a decade). Of course, ESPN/ABC has a cruel sense of humor and still subjects us to his lunacy on occasion by putting him on Michigan football broadcasts, so we aren't entirely rid of him.↵