Posted by John Niyo (The Detroit News) on Mon, Nov 3, 2008 at 9:40 PM
A failure to communicate? Yes, definitely
Turns out Jim Colletto wasn't crazy, after all. Dan Orlovsky really was running plays he'd never seen before in the fourth quarter of Sunday's 27-23 loss to the Bears.
Monday, Orlovsky confirmed what Colletto was griping about after the game. On the possession following the Bears' go-ahead touchdown, the Lions lost communication on their headsets.
So Orlovsky was forced to improvise, calling his own plays, including "a dumb idea" -- as he put it -- on the first-down end-around by Calvin Johnson that went for minus-6 yards. Orlovsky called all three plays as the Lions went nowhere and were forced to punt.
Coach Rod Marinelli said the Lions had similar difficulty early in the Houston game.
