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Matthew Stafford hits rock bottom, benched for Dan Orlovsky

Frank Schwab
·NFL writer

Matthew Stafford seems to be a broken quarterback. The Detroit Lions had to make a move on Sunday.

With the Lions trailing the Arizona Cardinals 35-7 in the third quarter, after Stafford's third interception and Detroit's fifth turnover in all and the home crowd booing every mistake, the Lions benched Stafford for Dan Orlovsky.

Yeah, that happened. And even worse, it had to happen.

Stafford has been bad this year. There are a few legitimate reasons. The offensive line is putrid. The Lions can't run the ball (likely because of that offensive line). The schedule has been tough. But Stafford was ineffective again, and after a third interception the Lions' coaching staff had to send a message that his repeated mistakes wouldn't be tolerated anymore. Kyle Meinke of MLive.com reported that there were huge cheers from Lions fans when Orlovsky came in. Ouch.

This doesn't seem to be a permanent move — I mean, it's Dan Orlovsky — but it's clear the Lions need a lot more from Stafford than they've been getting. But one could argue that's been the case for a few years now. For Stafford, the former first overall pick, getting the hook in a blowout loss to the Cardinals might just be rock bottom.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!