DETROIT (AP) -Matt Millen finally was fired for sinking the Detroit Lions to a level of futility the NFL hadn't seen in two decades.
Lions quarterback Jon Kitna said the much-maligned executive won't be the last to go if something isn't salvaged from this season.
"We're all lame ducks unless we start winning games," Kitna said.
Detroit (0-3) isn't favored to do that this week at home against Chicago (2-2), but the Bears are wary of counting out the NFL's worst team since 2001.
"A lot of people thought we were better than them last year and we got beat twice by them," tight end Desmond Clark said. "We can't go into this game thinking that they're 0-3 and we're just going to go get a win without playing hard.
"They had a bye week to get ready for us. So, coming in Sunday you know they'll be ready to play."
Millen was fired last week with a 31-84 record, the worst mark in the league over his seven-plus seasons. It was the poorest stretch by an NFL franchise since the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had 12 straight double-digit loss seasons from 1983-94.
But no one expects removing Millen to change results any time soon for the Lions.
"We got the guys that we're going to play with and we're running the systems we're going to run," said left tackle Jeff Backus, whose 115-game career coincided with the miserable Millen era. "Whether Matt is here or not, I don't know how much of a difference it'll make.
"We all have to do our job on the field and we know we haven't been doing that. It's our job to get it done. We have to be accountable at some point."
The Lions are sticking with Kitna at quarterback even though he's hasn't played well, and they don't know if young backups Dan Orlovsky or Drew Stanton can be counted on in the future.
Kitna is not about to apologize for keeping his job.
"If I felt like I was the absolute reason why we're losing games, then they should make a change," Kitna said. "But I don't think that's the reason and I think the coaches have stated that."
