Lions Sign Dan Orlovsky

Why?

Why would the Lions bring back Dan Orlovsky? I’ll ask that again, why!?

Dan Orlovsky, the 30-year-old journeyman quarterback of some of the most troubling teams of the past decade.

Orlovsky’s resume consists of the past two years with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a brief stint with the Houston Texans and a starting quarterback appearance on the two-game-winning 2011 Indianapolis Colts.

That two-game-winning season was the year new Lions head coach Jim Caldwell lost his job. Let’s not forget Orlovsky’s longest employment was with the Detroit Lions in the glorious Matt Millen years.

The Matt Millen era was not kind to Lions fans. It was probably the worst era in the franchise’s history. This era was actually so terrible the Lions broke a record for being the first team to finish a season 0-16. Orlovsky helped the Lions lose most of those games that year in 2008, and left fans with the beautiful memory of poor Dan captivating the whole Lions franchise in one play by accidentally being chased out of the back of the endzone for a safety.

Oh, sweet memories.

Orlovsky only signed a cheap one-year deal in Detroit and this time around he will be riding the bench as a reminder for Matthew Stafford not to get hurt. Behind Stafford is Kellen Moore and Orlovsky. If the Lions are comfortable with this situation then there must be faith in one of the two back-ups.

If there is a lack of comfortability, then look to see the quarterback position as an area of need headed into the draft. The Lions could grab a late-round developmental quarterback with a clean slate to work with, and no scary 0-16 stories lingering in his shadows.


Chris Boggus is a multimedia journalist for Impact Sports.