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Forget the tradition and the glory years. There is a climate of failure that permeates this organization and after years of tropical storms Sunday’s loss was the Burgundy and Gold’s Hurricane Katrina. While Jim Zorn is clearly a deer in headlights as an NFL head coach, he is not solely to blame the team’s collapse. This climate of arrogant incompetence in management has rendered a once proud franchise as laughing stock around the league.

The loss in Detroit only magnified the lingering problems that have been addressed by rhetoric and propaganda. This is the third time in as many seasons they have lost to a winless team. In 2007 Vince Young took over for the hapless Tennessee Titans and led them to a win at FedEx Field in his first NFL start. Last year the St. Louis Rams rolled into Landover without a victory following their bye week and with an interim coach got their first win.

But nothing compares to this!

Legitimate contenders don’t lose to the backwash of the league and with 19 straight losses the Lions were just that until Sunday. The same problems from the last two seasons linger despite a dramatic overhaul in personnel. This team still can’t gain one yard at the goal line or get critical stops on third down.

Two years ago the New York Giants march to the Super Bowl started when Mike Sellers was stopped at the goal line with the clock running out. Last year in Cincinnati they were stopped by the Bengals in the fourth quarter en route to a playoff eliminating loss. It has now happened that way versus the Rams and Lions in back to back weeks.

The Burgundy and Gold’s front office spent $150 million in the off season but still don’t have an adequate offensive line or a defense that can stop the opposition on third down. Whoever thought they could contend with a patchwork offensive was misguided to say the least. Albert Haynesworth, the $100 million dollar man, now has a sore butt and is questionable for next week. Perhaps the time spent by Vinny Cerrato, the vice president of football operations, trying to be a broadcaster would have been best served finding lineman from places other than the unemployment line and redistributing that wealth during the off season.

Greg Blatche’s bunker mentality may work in Afghanistan but its not working on defense when it counts. Legit defenses don’t give up 99 yard touchdown drives to winless teams. The man who melted down when asked about his defense in preseason admitted on Comcast SportsNet there were still problems with attention to detail. So you can’t fault the head coach on banking that a top five rated defense had his back if the offense can’t convert on fourth and goal from the one.

This is the perfect storm of dysfunction which has now pulled the veil off the mismanagement of the franchise. Too bad none of the guys on top will take a fall though.