When the Detroit Lions hired Jim Caldwell, they were counting on him to help the franchise take the next step. Some of Caldwell’s defenders might point to the fact that with a win Sunday, he’ll have led the Lions to back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 1994-95, and has a 35-28 record overall.
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However, there’s still a noticeable donut in the playoff win column, and this season won’t yield the opportunity to change that following yet another regular season letdown. On Thursday, Caldwell spoke to the media and acknowledged that though he’s raised expectations for the team, that alone isn’t good enough.
“I think my job when I came here was not playoff talk,” Caldwell said on Thursday. “My job when I came here was to win it all. That’s what every coach is in it to do. And anything short of that is unacceptable, plain and simple.”
“You keep trying to work at it, and try…at that point to get it done,” he continued. But there’s only one happy team at the end of the year, and that’s it in this league. Like I mentioned before, there’s no bowl games. So we just got to keep getting better.”
When he was asked what was an acceptable time length to win a Super Bowl, Caldwell talked about his time with the Indianapolis Colts, whom he led back to the championship game three years after they had won it all.
“Yesterday is not soon enough in our league,” Caldwell continued. “I mean, whether it’s one year or – my first year I went, so how many does it take? It depends. But the job, but the object is to get it done and you better get it done as quickly as you can. That’s the key in our league.”
Though Caldwell is officially signed through next season, this latest disappointment may just be enough to justify nixing the contract. Caldwell’s language on Thursday sure seems to show that he’s aware of that.
