Mooch's first crisis -- Harrington or McMahon?

[Gunzlingr]

The shock might have worn off, but the burning question was still there Monday for Lions coach Steve Mariucci.

Joey Harrington or Mike McMahon?

As poorly as they played in the 38-7 loss to the Cowboys, one of them will start at quarterback Sunday when the 1-5 Lions drag their 19-game road losing streak to Chicago to play the 1-5 Bears.

But who will it be?

Harrington, who completed five of 13 passes for 30 yards and was intercepted twice by Dallas?

"I told him face to face -- and I'm going to tell everybody else -- I want this job, and I'm going to fight for it," Harrington said.

Or McMahon, who was 5-of-20 for 51 yards, threw one interception and lost a fumble?

"As a player, you always want to play, you always want to be on the field playing," McMahon said. "You're competitive. That's the nature of all athletes."

But both players said they wouldn't question Mariucci's decision and would prepare for their assigned roles, regardless of what they might be.

Mariucci said he would meet with both quarterbacks before deciding on the starter. But he seemed to be in no hurry to decide, or at least to make his decision public.

"No decision has been made just yet," Mariucci said, "because I want to visit with both quarterbacks, obviously, before we have a plan as to what to do with practice for Wednesday.


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Humbled Harrington will start

After due deliberation, coach Steve Mariucci decided the best change would be no change at all.

Joey Harrington remains the Lions' starting quarterback.

Despite the Lions' 1-5 start and Harrington's poor play -- in the 38-7 loss to Dallas, in particular -- Mariucci decided he would be better off sticking with Harrington than switching to backup Mike McMahon for the game Sunday at Chicago.

"I tried to take everything into consideration, too many things to go into," Mariucci said Wednesday, "but we just wanted to stay on course and continue to improve -- both he and Mike -- and everybody else on this team for that matter.

"So we're full speed ahead in that direction and, by the way, we had maybe our best practice of the season today."

Mariucci set the Detroit sports community buzzing Sunday when he said he owed it to the Lions to consider a quarterback change after the lackluster performance against the Cowboys.

Harrington completed just 5 of 13 passes for 30 yards and was intercepted twice before being benched late in the first half. McMahon played just as poorly, completing five of 20 for 51 yards with an interception and a lost fumble.

Had McMahon played better, Mariucci's decision might have been different, although he said he based it on more than the Dallas loss.

"I've got to take more into consideration than just the last game," Mariucci said. "I've got to take a lot of things into consideration -- practice and meetings and past performance and health and potential and everything like that. So the decision we made was to continue with the depth that we have and make it better."



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