ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- The Detroit Lions will have to fire Rod Marinelli if they don't want him to be their coach.
Marinelli bristled at the thought of possibly quitting when the option was suggested Monday, a day after Detroit fell to 0-4 this season and an NFC-worst 10-26 since he was hired in 2006.
"Just you saying that to me, I would take that as a personal insult," Marinelli said to a reporter.
Marinelli added that people who think quitting is a possibility don't know him.
Matt Millen once said similar things and now he's a former employee, getting fired two weeks ago as Lions team president after sinking the franchise to an NFL-low 31-84 record over his seven-plus seasons in charge.
Detroit was routed by the Chicago Bears 34-7 in its first game of the post-Millen era. The latest defeat did nothing to change Marinelli's determined message at his weekly news conference.
"I won't change," he said. "I believe everything I'm doing in the game of football and how it's being taught. I have 100 percent belief in it.
"Is it getting done yet? No. Am I going to go to work? Yes."
The third-year coach said he spoke to William Clay Ford before Sunday's game, but Marinelli didn't know when he would speak with the team owner again.
Marinelli said he wouldn't argue with Ford if he chose to fire him.
"I respect authority, which a lot of times that doesn't happen in this country," said Marinelli, a Vietnam veteran. "I look at authority and I take my marching orders from there."
The Lions insist they're still following Marinelli's lead.
"He's a great coach," receiver Mike Furrey said. "He's so fundamentally sound, teaching guys what to do.
Gozoboy 
