I wonder what the current odds are that Big Al doesn't live through the season ?

It's just another weird ass day in Allen Park,which has been par for the course as of late. Marinelli flip-flops worse than your typical politician. He apparently changes his mind on a week to week, if not a day to day, basis. Why am I calling out the Lions' lame duck head coach again?

Gosder Cherilus is likely to start this Sunday.

At this time last week, Marinelli was went off on a diatribe in front of the assembled media in regard to the benching of Detroit's first round pick. His explanation on Cherilus' benching turned into a manifesto on entitlement. As reported by the News' John Niyo:

"I guess that's what I'm about: I don't think there's a right of entitlement," Marinelli said. "I don't care what draft status is. You understand what that means -- draft status? Some of you guys sit up in the bleachers all day eatin' popcorn looking down. I'm in the middle of the arena in a team meeting, and if I'm 0-5 or 5-0, I look at those men with the same consistent message. The guy who's playing well is gonna play. That respects our game. You understand what respect means?"

Ooooh, tough talk from Marinelli! Those God damn popcorn eatin' beat writers! They're So full of...popcorn!

The first time I heard this, I had to ask myself, "They're benching the top pick, and the lineman with the most upside, for a player who is, in Marinelli's mind, playing better. But that player is...George "The Human Yellow Flag" Foster? I want the same drugs he's on!"

I also wondered if Marinelli truly knows the meaning of "respect," as he sure doesn't respect the knowledge of Lions fans if he honestly believes he can convince us Foster is a legitimate NFL starter.

This was the same Foster who has been benched 5 times in his short career. The same Foster who thinks the snap count is only a suggestion. The same Foster who keeps the manufacturers of yellow hankies in business.The same Foster who has killed more drives than Tiger Woods.The same Foster who has mastered only one blocking technique, the "lookout" block.

Even stranger was Marinelli's talk of an ongoing atmosphere of entitlement on the Lions.

"And the way you hurt high draft picks in the past here (was), 'Hey, it's yours. C'mon, (the job is) yours. You can mess up all you want, you can gain weight, you can do anything you want. And you're gonna still play.' That insults this game."

Was Cherilus guilty of any of the above? Apparently not, as Marinelli then said the following:

"And he's busting hard, he is working hard, and the fastest way for him to get back on the field is to do things exactly right, the way I want it done. Every single day."

So your first round pick is busting ass in practice, but Marinelli benches him because he has some sort of entitlement bug up his ass? Lions logic at it's most convoluted.

Out went Cherilus as the starter, up on the depth chart went Foster.

How successful were the mind-games of the amateur psychologist running the Lions? Foster committed 2 more false start penalties, and was part of an offensive line that gave up 2 sacks and accounted for w whopping 77 total rushing yards.

Not surprisingly, Mlive's Killer Kowalski is reporting Cherilus is off Marinelli's "He's too entitled to play" list, and back in the starting lineup.

The Lions won't announce anything officially and head coach Rod Marinelli said no final decisions have been made, but there are indications that rookie first-round draft pick Gosder Cherilus will be back in the starting lineup this week against the Washington Redskins. Marinelli did say today that he did like the way Cherilus responded and worked after getting demoted last week.

What did Marinelli's little conniption fit accomplish? It delayed Cherilus' development that much more, and handicapped the offense against Houston by starting a acknowledged drive killer at right tackle. That's about it.

The benching didn't make the Lions any better, that's for damn sure.

Marinelli has butchered the handling of Lions' draft picks this season. If he's not playing head games with Cherilus, Marinelli is demoting Kevin Smith despite outplaying Rudi Johnson and not playing Jordon Dizon at all, save for special teams. Let's not forget the rookie defensive linemen who are just now being activated on game days, even though the Lions have the league's worst defense when playing his handpicked veterans.