Rod Marinelli is a hard man not to like, even as he walks out the door after the worst season any NFL team has ever seen.

Fired in a Monday morning meeting with new team president Tom Lewand and new general manager Martin Mayhew, Marinelli showed up to his regular 11:45 a.m. press conference because “it was scheduled.”

“I'm a routine guy,” Marinelli said. “You schedule it, I show up.”

He opened his press conference as always with the injury report – “Only injury today is me,” he said – and acknowledged a litany of failures that sent the Lions to the first 0-16 season in league history and a 10-38 record in his three years. Still, Marinelli said he had few regrets and wouldn't do anything differently if he got a head coaching job again.

“Honestly, I would go at this thing exactly the same way,” Marinelli said. “I'd want to make sure the No. 1 issue isn't always talent. It's the work, the attitude, the effort, all those things. And you got to have talent. I would never say it's not important. It is important. But when you get the blend of both, then you got something special. Then you win for a long time because your talent leads.”

The little talent Marinelli inherited never led, and the young talent he added never got the chance. Shaun Rogers was traded last offseason because he was lazy and liable to take months off. Roy Williams and “full speed” didn't exactly mix. And Calvin Johnson, as great a receiver as he is, could only do so much at a complimentary position and with a revolving door for a quarterback.

Marinelli said Monday he doesn't feel like a scapegoat for the organization, though no one would blame him if he did. Lewand (14 years) and Mayhew (eight) have been around longer and contributed to the losing culture in their own way, but each was promoted Monday amid the ashes the Matt Millen regime.

Rather, he took a practical approach to Monday's dismissal.

“You can't go 0-16 and expect to keep your job,” he said. “When you don't have the power to pull the trigger you're at the other end of the barrel, you understand."

Marinelli said he intends to coach again and expects to get another head gig one day.

“I just got to go back in and get my pick and shovel out again and start digging,” he said.

As for the Lions, he said he holds no grudges and has an optimistic outlook for the future.

“I really believe that the time to buy stock in the Lions is now, I really do,” Marinelli said. “This thing has hit bottom. I think there's a good base of talent here, of young players. Now I just think you just come in and you start adding to it. This is a good group of people, they know how to work, they know how to meet, they care, they'll develop some leadership. I think this thing's going to hit it on the rise.”