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Sunday, December 16, 2001

By Ed Bouchette, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Detroit Lions executive Bill Keenist comes armed and ready to Rotary meetings, club executive gatherings and those individual chats with players and sports writers.

Yes, the Lions are winless this season, Keenist tells them. Then the Elizabeth native goes into his history lesson:

Chuck Noll's first Steelers team was 1-13 in 1969. Bill Walsh's first 49ers team was 2-14 in 1979. Jimmy Johnson's first Cowboys team was 1-15 in 1989.

Those coaches and teams went on to great Super Bowl successes after those seasons. That does not guarantee it will happen to the Lions, but they could hold a distinction for this season that none of the others accomplished -- they remain in contention to become the only team in NFL history to go 0-16. They are 0-12 and will seek that elusive first victory again today in the Pontiac Silverdome against Minnesota.

If they lose, the Lions will come to Heinz Field still searching for that first win next Sunday, which could lead to a curiosity 32 years in the making. The Steelers won their only victory in 1969 in their opener when they beat the Lions, 16-13.

Bill Keenist was 12 years old.

"I remember it. Earl Groh scored the first touchdown. Then they lost 13 straight."

He not only watched in frustration as a young Steelers fan, he lived it early in his career when he was public relations director for the Pittsburgh Maulers, the lovable USFL team that went 3-15 in its maiden season of 1984 then folded.

Keenist, Detroit's senior vice president of communications and marketing, was a force behind the Ford family's hiring of Matt Millen as Lions president. Millen then hired Marty Mornhinweg as Detroit's coach, and there has been no talk of scrapping the coach or their plan even if they remain winless.

Keenist compares this season in Detroit to the metal porch furniture left outside in Pittsburgh during the winter. You don't grab a can of paint and cover up the rust, you get out the steel brush first.

"You expose it, scrape it down and get all the rust off. That's what we absolutely believe is what's happening, we're getting the rust off. While other teams have done that, I doubt they've done it and been as competitive as we have. It's been remarkable, especially with all the injuries."

The Lions have been hit hard with injuries and because of one to Charlie Batch, rookie quarterback Mike McMahon, a North Allegheny High School graduate, will make his second start today. Detroit has set an NFL record by losing nine consecutive games in which the margin of difference was fewer than 10 points.

"The losses to Tampa and Chicago the last two weeks were microcosms of the season for us," Keenist said. "We had two fourth downs on the final drive. We were milliseconds away from knocking down the pass. You want to cry, you don't know what to do.

"It's unbelievable that we can be this competitive week after week. It's amazing. To be in this business as long as we've been in it, you think you've seen everything and you haven't. But there's absolute belief we're heading up the mountain not down the mountain.

"When you want to be great, sometimes drastic measures must happen. No one expected this type of season but we understand the process."

But, what about the dubious distinction that would go with 0-16? The Lions would be the laughingstock of the country, not that they aren't already.

"It's obviously talked about a lot. But you look at Dallas when Jimmy Johnson went 1-15 and they ended up winning three Super Bowls. If they had gone 0-16, would they not have done that? I don't think anyone would suggest that."

Keenist already owns a Super Bowl ring from his 1982 season working as a public relations assistant for the Redskins. After the Maulers collapsed, he worked for the Penguins when they brought in a rookie named Mario Lemieux. He believes he sees something growing in Detroit, too.

"The most encouraging aspect of this season is the resolve these players have shown," Keenist said. "It's remarkable. You learn about a team and an organization when you go through tough times; they expose the good and the bad."

This is the Lions' final season in the Pontiac Silverdome. Next year, they move into a new domed stadium in Detroit. That 1969 Steelers team that beat the Lions for its only victory played its final year at Pitt Stadium before moving in 1970 into Three Rivers Stadium, where Keenist eventually had an office.

"I see this period as a beginning of an incredible journey," Keenist said.