According to John Clayton over at the World Wide Leader, the Lions have signed Daunte Culpepper.  Of course, this is a mind-boggling move and therefore suits the Lions perfectly.  Just when I was little happy about the team’s future now that they have cleaned house and look to make significant changes for the future, they pull a bonehead move like this.

The question is:  Why would they sign Culpepper?  He is an aging player, his best years behind him, the injuries that forced him to retire from football still a question.  I’ll tell you why.  It’s a fan grab.  For the first time in the history of Ford Field, the Lions did not sell out last week’s loss to Washington.  Thus, by NFL rule, the game was not broadcast on television in the Detroit area.  The average fan’s interest in this brutal team has to be low, and when they’re not on television, it’s even lower.  I watched a different game, took a nap, and listened to some of the inevitable loss on the radio.  I mean, what’s the point, right?

With likelihood high that the Lions will not sell out any of their remaining games (except Thanksgiving), the team had to make a move to regenerate interest in the 0-7 club.  And this is it.  Of course, this does nothing but stall any movement towards future success.  It’s a stop-gap to pique the waining interest of fans.  After offensive coordinator Jim Colletto stated this week that Drew Stanton is not getting a chance to start because he’s not ready and added that he’s (Colletto) “not going to embarrass the kid just to prove a point to somebody else”, any chance that we’d see anyone but Dan Orlovsky was dashed, crushing the hopes (albeit small hopes) that we’d see something positive on the field this season.

It’s a young team that is really going to have to rebuild in all aspects of the organization.  I haven’t given up on Stanton or Orlovsky...yet.  Let them play.  There really is no reason to sign an aging QB now and stunt their possible growth.