While as an in-studio analyst for NBC, Millen made his first public comments since he was fired as Lions president Sept. 24. He was interviewed by Dan Patrick.

Millen said he was qualified to be Lions president "in some areas," but not all, and would have fired himself, but not during the season. The four-time Super Bowl champion shrugged off a question about how he is viewed now.

"If you're just going to say, 'Oh, that's the stiff who used to be up in Detroit. They lost all those games. It's got to be on him,' I would say, 'Yeah, I was in Detroit, and you have to blame me. But there's a lot more to it than that,' " Millen said.

"Suffice it to say, listen, I could give you excuses. I'm not going to do that. I could give you the explanations. To me, that's just an excuse after the fact. So you take the hit and you move on. How they look at me, I know what I am. You can say whatever you want about me."

Millen was a standout at Penn State. He was a good NFL player who won four Super Bowl rings -- two with the Raiders, one each with the 49ers and Redskins. He was considered an excellent broadcaster for Fox.

But before he was hired as Lions president in 2001, he had no experience as an executive. The Lions went 31-84 until he was fired three games into this season. The Lions finished the season as the NFL's first 0-16 team. They are 31-97 since 2001 -- the worst eight-year stretch in the NFL since World War II.

Millen always said he would never quit. But asked if he would have fired himself, he said: "Yeah, I would have, actually. Probably not this year until after the season, because I think when you start having changeover in an organization, it filters down to the locker room and that's tough to do, and I thought that that was a tough position for Rod Marinelli to be in."

Marinelli was fired as coach Monday. "Rod's a stud," Millen said. "I mean, Rod's an outstanding Football coach, and obviously the thing went the other way on him this year, but that's a tough position for him."

Asked if he was qualified to be Lions president in the first place, Millen said: "In some areas, yes. In some areas, no. Certainly from a Football point of view, the X's and O's, and that's something that you study for a long time and you understand. But there's a whole other side to that job that you have to learn and frankly I didn't understand going in, and I had to learn it."

Millen constantly changed coaches, not to mention systems and players. He went from Gary Moeller to Marty Mornhinweg to Steve Mariucci to Dick Jauron to Rod Marinelli.

Asked about the changes, Millen said: "You change coaches because obviously you're not having success. But that's a great point that you make because any organization that's going to have a winning record, it all comes back to not only stability but consistency. You have to have consistency in philosophy. You have to consistency with scheme and that type of thing. So when you're changing things over, that's tough to do."

Millen always said the Lions had enough talent, and he didn't change his tune Saturday.

Asked how close the Lions are to winning, Millen said: "A lot closer than people think. I mean, right now, it's easy to just sit around and say, 'Oh, the Lions. They stink,' and kick them when they're down. But if you take a look around this league right now -- in fact, we're going to watch one today -- Atlanta had four wins a year ago, one in Miami. I mean, it's doable.

"Is there enough talent up there in Detroit? Absolutely. You've got one of the top receivers in the league right now in Calvin Johnson. You've got a good young running back. There's some pieces in place in the offensive line. Defensively, do they need some help? Yeah, they need some help. But it certainly can be done."

Millen did not hold a news conference after his firing and declined interview requests. Besides speaking about the Lions, Millen helped preview Saturday's games and appeared on NBC's Toyota Halftime Show.

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