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The Lions coaching staff is coming together nicely. Gone are Rod Marinelli, Joe Barry and Jim Colletto. In are Jim Schwartz, Gunther Cunningham, and Scott Linehan.

The Rams fired Linehan as their head coach last September after the team stumbled to an 0-4 start. By all accounts he was dreadful, amassing a 11-25 record in just over two seasons. Schwartz hiring him to coordinate the Lions' offense might seem like more of same in Detroit. But here's the thing: just because a guy is a complete and utter failure as a head coach doesn't mean he's not a good coordinator with a firm grasp on Xs and Os.

No idea what the script for the Jaguars-Lions game would even look like -- there are so many subplots, it's hard to keep up with all of them -- but Daunte Culpepper, Pee Wee League football coach earlier this week, got the start for Detroit and promptly reintroduced fans to what made him so good in Minnesota: play-action fake and throw it as far as you can.

But instead of Randy Moss running underneath 50-yard bombs, Calvin Johnson now has the honors. On the Lions third drive of the game, Culpepper found Johnson on a 51-yard bomb, and two plays later Detroit made it down to the Jaguars two-yard line. And then things got weird. (Weirder?)

After a Detroit timeout, Drew Freaking Stanton calmly jogged onto the field like he was actually going to play in a real live NFL game or something. I can't imagine the range of emotions offensive coordinator Jim Colletto, who sits in the booth during games, must've been experiencing.

After a Stanton-to-Kevin Smith handoff for a small gain, a play later, Stanton rolled right and found tight end John Owens in the end zone. For a touchdown. That's right, the World's Most Embarrassing Player actually made a play. Fancy that.

Which obviously means one thing: there's quarterback controversy in Detroit. Or at the very least, the Lions have found their goal-line QB and, ironically, it isn't the fat guy.

With the Lions organization pretty much FUBAR (Matt Millen be damned), last week the club went about the task of finding a starting quarterback now that Dan Orlovsky might be out for a spell with an injured thumb.

Daunte Culpepper was officially signed on Monday, and because of Orlovsky's situation, there's a decent chance the former Vikings star could be under center on Sunday. As in: four days from now after being in the Lions offense for approximately 15 minutes and out of football for eight months prior to that.

From mlive.com's Tom Kowalski:

Several sources have indicated that Lions free agent quarterback Daunte Culpepper took the majority of snaps at today's practice. Neither Culpepper or backup Drew Stanton would comment on how the snaps were divided; Stanton said he was told not to discuss it with the media.

Given how offensive coordinator Jim Colletto feels about Stanton, I suspect the second-year quarterback wasn't surprised by losing out to a guy who was retired a few weeks ago.

Although it's not yet up on the dot com, ESPN Primetime peeps Trey Wingo and Trent Dilfer are reporting that it's BRADY QUINN TIME!? in Cleveland. Yep, that's right, after head coach Romeo Crennel, during his weekly Monday presser, said that Derek Anderson was his starter "as of right now," something changed.

No idea what -- it's not like Anderson was noticeably worse against the Ravens than he had been for most of the 2008 season -- but now the World's Sexiest Backup has been promoted.

According to the fine folks at Rotoworld.com who pay attention to such stuff, the full-time job is still up for grabs, though there's a good chance Mr. Anderson will be hawking his wares in another NFL city come 2009, and the Browns will probably look to trade him.

Another Sunday, another loss for the Lions, this time in debilitating, "how the hell did we lose that one!?" fashion. Good news is on the way, however, in the form of quarterback Daunte Culpepper, who was last relevant in 2004.

Apparently, though, not everybody thinks Culpepper is this franchise's savior. Weird, I know. Last night, Peter King suggested Detroit might be in the Matt Cassel business this offseason because they fit the description of a "team that desperately needs a quarterback."

In the meantime, the Lions are just trying to win a freaking game. Which is why the Detroit Free Press' Michael Rosenberg's suggestions that the club is now in the midst of a quarterback controversy is, well, hilarious.

The thinking, I guess, is that if Dan Orlovsky is the future of the franchise, you don't sign Jon Kitna to a three-year deal, draft Drew Stanton in the second round and ink Culpepper in the middle of the season. Fair enough, but despite the obvious absurdities, it's not entirely Orlovsky's fault the Lions can't even accidentally win a game.

The news just keeps getting worse for Drew Stanton. Late last week, Lions offensive coordinator Jim Colletto admitted that he wouldn't play the second-year quarterback because "he didn't want to embarrass him," and then the club went out and signed Daunte Culpepper, who was retired for about 15 minutes.

And while bringing Culpepper is probably the second-best personnel move of the season for Detroit (after this, obviously), there's absolutely no way he'll be able to contribute in an actual game for at least two weeks while he learns the offense.

So it stands to reason that Stanton would remain the team's second-team quarterback behind Dan Orlovsky in the interim, right? Right?

Culpepper's arrival casts uncertainty over the future of second-year player Drew Stanton. Culpepper had previously turned down backup job offers with other teams saying that he wanted an opportunity to be a starter again.

Stanton currently is the No. 2 quarterback on the team and likely will drop to No. 3 when Culpepper arrives.

Look, I'm willing to accept that Stanton isn't very good. Some NFL types thought as much when he came out of Michigan St. But here's my question: if then-offensive coordinator Mike Martz didn't want him, and head coach Rod Marinelli doesn't want him, why was he taken in the second round? Oh, right.

Ultimately, the order of the depth chart won't much affect how the 2008 season plays out, other than Culpepper might give the Lions the best chance to avoid 0-16. Gotta crawl before you walk or some such.

This was supposed to be Brodie Croyle's team. The Chiefs selected him in the third round of the 2006 draft, and between clipboard duty and recovering from various ailments, the former Alabama star never could stay healthy long enough to make a case for why he was the long-term answer at quarterback.

Instead, it's become ... wait, what? Tyler Thigpen's gig?

Yep, that's right, former Chanticleer and Vikings undrafted free agent seventh-round pick is the future in Kansas City. Well, for now, anyway. Which is why head coach Herm Edwards isn't quite ready to crown his ass:

"Let's don't anoint him ... Don't put so much pressure on this poor guy. He went from Atlanta, where everybody was going, 'Whoa, whoa,' and all of a sudden he plays this game, his second start, he plays good. ... He's still learning. He has to keep playing, keep growing."

Two thoughts: it's a good thing Jim Colletto isn't mentoring this guy, and maybe the Vikings shoulda kept him on the roster. I'm not saying he's the next Tony Romo, Pseudo-Savior!, but given how things are playing out in Minnesota, you can never have enough arms around when the current starter is 37 years old, and the franchise quarterback is currently running the scout team.

If Thigpen does work out, it'll allow the Chiefs to focus on shoring up their many other deficiencies, which would be nice. Of course, if he bombs over the final nine weeks then, well, we'll probably be talking about which quarterback the team will take with their top-5 first-round pick next April.

Yesterday we learned that Lions offensive coordinator Jim Colletto had no plans to play backup quarterback Drew Stanton because he didn't want to "... embarrass the kid just to prove a point to somebody else." If only Colletto had taken such a stance with Dan Orlovsky.

Well, a day later, the second-year, second-round pick out of Michigan State who has earned the nickname "No Spiral" Stanton* isn't all that jazzed by his coach's comments.

*Jon Kitna just can't quit him.

I think it's official. Besides Kitna, who apparently views Mike Martz as the Dr. Cox to his J.D., I think we've heard from every other 2007 Lion, and the consensus is that Martz is Lucifer.

The latest in the parade is right tackle George Foster, who was acquired in the trade that sent Dre Bly to Denver. Foster was a disaster last year, getting flagged for nine false starts in a stretch of nine games that eventually led to his being benched for Damien Woody, who had never played right tackle before in his career.

But Foster, like all those other Lions, thinks he's about to go from Oh No to All-Pro now that Martz is gone, because Jim Colletto has crafted the greatest offensive scheme known to man. Or, you know, because he's implemented one that suits his players' talents.

For Foster, its the zone-blocking scheme and the use of more running that will make the difference. Foster was a first-round pick in Denver and, while never a great player, was better than last year because he was playing in the scheme the Lions are now using. He's also worked on those jittery feet, going without a false start penalty all preseason.

Still, if/when Foster starts on Sunday, it'll be less because he's earned the spot than because Gosder Cherilus, the team's 2008 first-rounder, has failed to adequately step up and claim the job. When he does, you can be sure no matter how good Foster is playing he'll be hitting the bench. And he won't have Martz to blame.

The Detroit Lions have already traded away the league's best defender, but that doesn't mean team president Matt Millen doesn't know what he's doing. Actually, that's exactly what it means, and it's the latest example of the poor decision-making skillz that have plagued him and haunted Lions fans during his nine-year career.

But all is not lost; head coach Rod Marinelli is committed to winning, and he's willing to do whatever it takes to make that happen. He fired pass-happy offensive coordinator Mike Martz after the '07 season and brought in Jim Colletto, an avowed fan of the running game.

Being a proponent of the run and being successful at it are two different things, however, which is why Millen worked his personnel magic this afternoon and upgraded the position with two deft moves: