JIM CALDWELL may have been the Detroit Lions’ most successful coach in the Super Bowl era but that wasn’t enough to save his job.

The Lions fired Caldwell on Black Monday, the day following the final Sunday of the NFL’s regular season on which numerous coaches and general managers are fired, after a season in which the team raised hopes before fading and missing the play-offs for the second time in three years.

Caldwell received a multi-year contract extension before the season but the team didn’t announce the move for months.