None of those things were evident Tuesday when the Detroit Lions held a news conference to introduce new president Tom Lewand and new general manager Martin Mayhew. Lewand and Mayhew were members of the front office for the past eight years.

There is a lot of skepticism about potential success with Lewand and Mayhew. Both were well aware of that sentiment as they sat down for questioning.

"I understand when I came in here that there was nothing I was going to say today that all of a sudden you were going to be in my corner," Mayhew said.

Mayhew was the assistant general manager under former team president Matt Millen, who made a series of decisions that have led to Detroit's status as the worst team in the NFL.

Mayhew and Lewand did not duck responsibility for their role in the past failures and stressed they had the plan to get the Lions on the right track.

"People talk about the fact it's a negative that we were here in the past. I view that as a positive. We have an opportunity to understand the mistakes that were made in the past and learn from those mistakes," Mayhew said. "We know the problems that we face, and we know how to fix those problems."

Mayhew, who stressed several times he did not want to look backward and point a finger of blame at others, said, "My role and other people's role in the organization will be implementing my plan. My role before was implementing somebody else's plan. I made recommendations, I made suggestions and, ultimately, the people who made decisions were paid to make those decisions."

Mayhew also said while he was willing to give the media a few general answers about his vision for the team, he would keep the information to a minimum.

"We've hurt ourselves in the past by talking too much," Mayhew said. "I've been there prior to the draft and I've seen us get out there and talk about our needs and what kind of players we're looking for. ... What I don't want to do is be the person who gives somebody a competitive edge on us."

Mayhew said he wants to bring in players who will make the Lions more powerful on both sides of the ball.

"Defensively, we have to get bigger. We're small, we're a small Football team," he said. "We get out there and we might call the right defense and have a free hitter in the hole, but instead of it being second-and-10, it's second-and-six because we aren't big enough."

The plan also includes hiring a person for the personnel department -- probably an assistant GM to Mayhew -- and a coach.

Mayhew and Lewand said the coach will have to fit with the philosophy and agree with the direction the Lions are headed in.

"I think that's where we've struggled some here in the past," Mayhew said. "I think it always hasn't matched up -- what we're doing offensively and what we're doing defensively and what (Millen's) philosophy was versus what we were trying to do on the Football field."

The Lions have six candidates on their search list: Jason Garrett, Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator; Steve Spagnuolo, New York Giants defensive coordinator; Leslie Frazier, Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator; Jim Schwartz, Tennessee Titans defensive coordinator; Mike Heimerdinger, Titans offensive coordinator; and Jerry Gray, Washington secondary coach.