With the day known as "Black Monday" looming a week away, where many coaches fear for their jobs on the Monday following the finale of the 2013-14 NFL regular season, Detroit Lions coach Jim Schwartz is one that may be fired. If he is canned, his last memory at Ford Field wasn't a good one as he was unhappy with the boos that rained down on his team during Sunday's overtime loss.
Boos echoed through Ford Field as the Lions decided to play for overtime instead of taking a shot to win downfield on Sunday as time expired, and the team eventually fell to the New York Giants 23-20 in overtime.
Schwartz didn't take kindly to the boos.
"I was disappointed to hear boos. We're getting ready to go to overtime right there and our crowd is great for us and they support us," Schwartz told ESPN. "The team needed a lift right there. We didn't need to feel bad at that point. We just intercepted a ball that got us to overtime. I thought that I was just trying to get our team ready."
Schwartz added: "That's tough, the situations when your players are getting booed and you want them fired up. That's what I was trying to do right there."
Schwartz was noticeably yelling on the sidelines at the end of regulation, but it was uncertain if he was yelling at the fans, about the fans or about something else. Schwartz said it was hard not to hear the fans as a chorus of boos rose up from a fan base that has had a promising team miss the playoffs for the second consecutive season.
"I don't know how you cannot," Schwartz said about hearing the boos, according to ESPN. "At that point, we're taking a knee and after we didn't get the yards, we just let the clock run out and we didn't get the first down. We were trying to gather the troops and trying to get ready for overtime. It wasn't like we were running another play in that situation. We were getting ready to go into overtime and our fans have been great for us but we needed them on our side in overtime."
The Lions (7-8) haven't appeared in the playoffs since 2011 when the team lost in the Wild-Card round to the New Orleans Saints, and before that their last playoff appearance was in 1999. The team blew their fifth fourth-quarter lead in six games Sunday against New York.
At least one Lions player backed Schwartz's feelings toward the fans.
"Fans are frustrated but what do you think we are?" receiver Nate Burleson said per ESPN. "I get it, you come in and sit down and you cheer loud and occasionally want to get upset and boo."
Burleson said he wanted to turn and yell something to the fans when they were booing Detroit, like Schwartz appeared to do.
"I'm not mad at him for doing it," Burleson said via ESPN. "As many times as I wanted to, I kind of stopped myself from saying something to a fan or two that, you know, I probably shouldn't have. But it's frustrating when you hear them boo because the same fan will turn around and praise you when it's all good."
The Lions close out their season against the Vikings next Sunday in Minnesota. It remains to be seen if Schwartz will be the coach the day after that game concludes another season where the team hasn't lived up to expectations.
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