Why do I care about the Lions? For one thing, I can’t even talk trash to my friends who are Lions fans. What am I going to say to them? “Sucks to be you”? They’re probably glad to have the three hours a week freed up. Not only that, but the Lions’ ineptitude is taking away from the credibility of the other NFC North teams, particularly the Packers. Every division title Green Bay wins might as well come with a footnote: Includes two victories over Detroit.

In their path of reckless destruction, the Lions are also leaving in their wake the ravaged careers of promising young players and coaches. Is Rod Marinelli a good coach? Could Joey Harrington have been a solid starting quarterback? Who knows? In the “ready, fire, aim” world of Matt Millen and his Lions, every wasted young talent can be turned into a scapegoat to distract fans from the fact that, like Nixon with Vietnam, this man has no real plan for victory.

As much as Millen is to blame, even more fault can be found with the team’s owner, William Clay Ford. This is because someone as incompetent as Millen should have been fired a long time ago. Ford either doesn’t have the stomach to fire Millen (as the Detroit Free Press’ Mitch Albom said this week) or he actually believes Millen is capable, despite all evidence to the contrary. In either case, clearly Ford does not feel the shame that fans feel every time his team lays an egg.

Since the Lions play in Detroit, it is tempting to paint in broad strokes and view the organization as symbolic of the overall decay of the metropolis. The city’s crime rate consistently ranks among the nation’s highest, its population has plummeted, and its mayor recently resigned in disgrace and will likely be in jail soon. And of course, the auto industry, the lettuce and tomatoes of Detroit’s salad days, has been rotting and molding for decades. But to equate a bottom-feeding football team with the overall depression infesting a city with much larger problems would be glib, at best. A Super Bowl win won’t solve any civic plagues, but if any city could use a little escapism, for a few hours on Sunday, it’s Detroit.

Unfortunately, the only escape the Lions provide is for their opponents. As for their fans, rather than be held hostage by Millen and Ford, they’ve discovered an escape of their own: Indifference. I’d like to say that it doesn’t get any worse than that, but with the Detroit Lions, it always gets worse.