Give Jon Kitna credit for chutzpah.

There aren’t many who could pull off the disgraced assistant coach look as a Halloween costume, but when you’re the unquestioned leader of a surprising 5-2 football team, you’re more likely to get a free pass for poor taste.

Kitna was the center of attention at the Mike Furrey Foundation’s charity Halloween party Monday night in Plymouth. He and his wife, Jennifer, raised eyebrows when they revisited one of the more embarrassing episodes in Lions’ history. Kitna came dressed as a “naked” Joe Cullen while his wife resembled a Wendy’s drive-thru attendant.

If you’re scratching your head over that one, you’re probably not alone.

Cullen, the Lions’ defensive line coach, was arrested Aug. 24, 2006, in Dearborn, Mich., for alleged indecent and obscene conduct for driving on a public street while nude. Cullen pulled his sport utility vehicle into a late-night Wendy’s drive-thru. The attendant discovered that he was naked. Cullen was asked to wait in the restaurant parking lot while they prepared his order. The restaurant manager notified police.

Cullen later pleaded no contest to driving while nude.

Although rooted in serious personal issues, the unbelievably bizarre particulars surrounding the incident made Cullen and the Lions the “butt” of a steady stream of derisive punchlines across the country.

Apparently, Kitna believed it’s time for the players to join in on the joke.

“A lot of the guys on the team remember what happened,” Kitna told Fox 2 at the party. “It’s far enough removed that you can laugh at it now.”

I wonder if Cullen or head coach Rod Marinelli share that sentiment, considering the humiliation that the episode caused Cullen and his family.

It’s one thing if such insensitivity emanates from a smart-alecky columnist. But it’s a wholly different matter when it’s one of the coach’s own players who obviously is comfortable publicly mocking the man’s personal fallibilities.

What was Kitna thinking? Was such brazenness another example of the swashbuckling cowboy attitude that has made him the emotional and spiritual backbone of the Lions’ locker room?

The stunt was consistent with Kitna’s in-your-face style. If you don’t like what he says or what he does, that’s tough. He’s not changing.

But he crossed the line this time and owes Cullen an apology, if for nothing else but for pushing that embarrassing evening back to the forefront of local consciousness.

Kitna’s Cullen costume involved a bodysuit, a T-shirt with a bare chest stamped across the front and a thong. He wore a dark wig with a Lions’ coaching visor. Jennifer Kitna wore a Wendy’s employee uniform with a headset to take the customers’ drive-thru order and a red pony-tailed wig that’s symbolic of the company’s logo, a red-haired little girl.

Kitna’s decision didn’t make much sense because Cullen has serious personal issues that’ll require daily managing for the remainder of his life.

A week after the nude driving arrest, police arrested Cullen for suspicion of drunken driving.

Cullen didn’t lose his job with the Lions. They suspended him for last year’s season opener, and the NFL suspended him for one game later in the season. Cullen sought counseling and treatment..

The brief passing of time probably doesn’t make it seem too funny to Cullen.