Twenty-eight years separate the 1980 'Aints from the 2008 Detroit Lions, but it seems like only yesterday for Kleinschmidt, a valued member of the Saints organization from 1969 until his unceremonious departure after Mike Ditka's third and final season in 1999.

"I've been through this before," Kleinschmidt said during a break from taping players' ankles before a mid-week practice at the Lions' training facility in Allen Park, Mich.

Until this season, the 'Aints and the 1976 expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers had been the only NFL teams to reach such depths in the same season. The 'Aints ended their 14-game skid with a 21-20 win against the New York Jets at Shea Stadium on Dec. 14, 1980. A 14-game schedule prevented the Buccaneers from further embarrassment in their inaugural season, although their futility streak extended into the 1977 season with 12 more losses.

As fate would have it, the Buccaneers' ended their 26-game freefall with a 33-14 win against the Saints on Dec. 11, 1977.

It has come full circle for Kleinschmidt, whose Lions host the Saints at noon today at Ford Field in downtown Detroit. A loss would be of historic proportion, setting the '08 "Ny-lons" apart from those inglorious '80 'Aints and ignominious '76 Yuc-aneers.

Although he still treasures the friendships from his long association with the Saints, there is no mistaking the color of the blood that flows through his veins today. Once Black & Gold, it now is Honolulu Blue and Silver.

"We didn't win a lot until the (Jim) Mora years when we had our first division championship (1991) and a few wild cards ('87, '90, '92), which were great," said Kleinschmidt, who's in the second year of a three-year contract as the Lions' coordinator of athletic medicine and head athletic trainer.

"But there is no feeling that I ought to be melancholy about this. It's all Lions. We need a win, and we're doing everything we can to go after it."

Kleinschmidt quickly dismissed the notion that the Lions might be better off finishing 0-16, which would guarantee them a spot in NFL lore and the No. 1 pick in the 2009 draft.

"We're here to win every Football game we can," he said. "The draft be damned. We're not worried about that, or the possibility of losing the first draft pick if we win.

"The coaches brought it up again today. This is about putting as much effort as we possibly can into winning this game and our last game (at Green Bay on Dec. 28). It's about effort, effort, effort . . . from everyone in this building, in this entire organization, from all departments. We feel we can win. Nobody wants to be associated with an 'oh-and-16' team."

The Lions have toyed with victory the past two weeks, pushing the Minnesota Vikings to the brink before losing 20-16 and extending the Indianapolis Colts deep into the fourth quarter before falling 31-21.

Those back-to-back performances suggest the Lions have not quit on Coach Rod Marinelli, who is expected to be fired at season's end. A string of failing seasons finally caught up with Lions President/CEO Matt Millen, who was dismissed Sept. 24 after an inauspicious 31-84 run in the Motor City.

Kleinschmidt credits Marinelli for keeping the injury-riddled Lions together during these tumultuous times. Case in point: Today's starting quarterback, Dan Orlovsky, decided to forego season-ending surgery to repair a torn thumb ligament on his throwing hand so he could ride out the storm with his teammates.

"(Marinelli) will not allow for any negativity around here," Kleinschmidt said. "The locker room is good. There is no finger-pointing, no complaining, no blaming other people, no rats jumping ship. None of that is going on here. We have an upbeat, positive team every week.

"Coach Marinelli takes everything that comes with losing, and he just straps it on his back every day. He takes all of the problems of the whole organization and straps it on his back, and he says, 'Let's go. I am not backing down. I'm going full-steam ahead, all out. You can come with me and stay in the front of the ship with me or jump off the back. If this is too much for you, we'll keep paying you but just leave.' To me that is terrific."

Even as the losses mount, Kleinschmidt, 61, said he looks forward to coming to work every day.

"I still got fuel in the tank and the fire in the belly," he said. "I love what I do. This situation up here has been terrific. What has made it good is Coach Marinelli has the right guys in the locker room with the right attitudes.

"I'm not suggesting that in 1980 with Dick Nolan that we had a bad locker room or we had bad people. But having gone through that one in 1980 and comparing it to 2008, it's so very pleasant to come to work. We got people with upbeat attitudes who come here to work every day. I think you'll see that Sunday. There is no quit in this team. There is no quit in this organization."

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Brian Allee-Walsh may be reached at ballee-walsh@timespicayune.com or at 504.826.3805.