Bears vs. Lions, Week 17: Detroit must make coaching changes after 'team-wide failure'

After losing to the Chicago Bears on Sunday, the Detroit Lions finished the 2012 season with a bitterly disappointing 4-12 record just a season after making the playoffs. There will almost certainly be changes to the coaching staff, but how far up the ladder they'll go has yet to be determined. Sean Yuille of SB Nation's Pride of Detroit thinks that it's time for head coach Jim Schwartz to be shown the door, via Pride of Detroit:

While my desire for a coaching change ultimately stems from the Lions finishing the season with eight consecutive losses and a 4-12 record, it's more complicated than that. It's based more on how the Lions managed to go on such a long losing streak. Perhaps the most frustrating part was that it wasn't just one specific problem consistently dragging the Lions down. It was a team-wide failure all season long.

Yiulle also questions whether the Lions have reached their ceiling under Schwartz, a coach who was able to pull the team up from 0-16, but may not be capable of pushing them to the next level beyond the first round of the playoffs. The Lions have been more competitive under Schwartz than they have in decades, but Yiulle didn't see signs this year that the team is capable of consistently competing for division titles.

Though Schwartz has molded the Lions into a solid NFL team -- this year's record notwithstanding -- Yiulle says that Lions fans shouldn't have their standards lowered by the disastrous years prior to Schwartz. That said, Yiulle acknowledges that Schwartz almost certainly will not be canned, and says that he can live with changes across the coaching staff. Next year, though, is make or break for the Lions head man.