ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- With the Detroit Lions among the middle of the NFL pack at 8-7, coach Jim Caldwell is on the hot seat for the third straight season. The fourth-year coach said Tuesday that being average -- or a little bit better than it -- is not good enough. "There hasn't been anything across the board that we've been good at. ... An indication of where we are -- the great thing about the National Football League is all you have do is look at your record," Caldwell said. "And we're just a little bit above average, and a little bit above average is not good enough. "You know, there are no bowl games in this league. And so we got to get better. We got to get better in every area. It's a team sport. There's not anything that we just absolutely excelled at all across the board." Caldwell's job status has been in question this season since back-to-back losses to Minnesota and Baltimore that put the Lions in a tough spot for a playoff berth. It intensified Sunday after a 26-17 loss to Cincinnati knocked Detroit out of playoff contention. The Lions have made the playoffs in two of four seasons under Caldwell. Caldwell wouldn't say whether he has had discussions with general manager Bob Quinn about his future; he said only that he meets with him daily and that he expects to be evaluated at the end of the season like normal. On Sunday, both team owner Martha Ford and team president Rod Wood declined interview requests after Detroit's loss to discuss Caldwell's future with the club. "Nothing's changed. Nothing's changed other than what I told you on Sunday, and it is what it is," Caldwell said. "But everybody gets evaluated at the end of the year. Everybody -- players, coaches, scheme, everything. That's part of the process." Caldwell wouldn't reflect on whether there was anything he would have done differently this year, saying the season wasn't over. Detroit plays Green Bay on Sunday in a game with no playoff implications for either team. The Lions evaluate everything at all times, he said. "You look at it on a weekly basis, and you always make some determination," Caldwell said. "That's what we do all the time. That's constant. We look at some things, and some things you say, you know, like to change that or something. You'd say, man, we did that decent. We should have done that a little bit more. That's a natural part of what we do. That's weekly. That's daily." He also didn't want to reflect on what he's most proud of over the past four seasons because he said he was still looking ahead. He did say, though, that he believed his opinion of it would potentially be different than others', "but you can assess that." Caldwell's record is 35-28 in almost four full seasons with the Lions. His career record as head coach of Indianapolis and Detroit is 61-50.
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