For the second time this season, a team on the Lions' schedule has lost their head coach mid-season. Earlier this month, the Cowboys fired Wade Phillips after the Packers destroyed Dallas on Sunday night football. On Monday, the Vikings fired Brad Childress, one day after the Packers dismantled Minnesota at the Metrodome.
↵Childress has been replaced by interim coach Leslie Frazier. Frazier has interviewed for a few head coach jobs in the past and will finally get his shot by taking over a 3-7 Vikings team that has looked lost more often than not this season. Childress lost control of the team weeks ago, so the hope in Minnesota is that Frazier taking over will have a positive effect like Jason Garrett taking over in Dallas did. The Cowboys are 2-0 since Garrett became the interim head coach, and one of those wins came on Sunday against the Lions.
↵Detroit lost to Minnesota earlier this season but will get another shot at the Vikings on Jan. 2. It is the Lions' home and season finale, and although the coaching situation will be an intriguing storyline going forward, I'm more interested in who will be Minnesota's quarterback in that game. I had very little doubt that Childress would not make it until the end of the season, and I have the same sort of feeling with Brett Favre. Frazier is sticking with Favre for now, but I would be surprised if he is still around by the time the Vikings play the Lions. If by chance he is, it will likely be his final game in the NFL, and fittingly it would come against a team he has essentially owned over the course of his career.
↵Minnesota's first game of the Frazier era will come on Sunday at the Washington Redskins.