A Lion's Chance

Apparently, as lore goes, Bobby Layne, one of the Lions best quarterbacks ever, said that the Lions "won't win for 50 years!" This was said early in the 1958 NFL season after he helped get them to, and win, the Championship game the season before. He was injured and the Lions traded him because they thought he couldn't recover from the injury.

Well, he was right. Not only did he play 4 more seasons, but 1957 was the last year the Lions reached the Championship game. Note that I said "Championship," as the Super Bowl wouldn't be created until the 1966-7 season. Since that time, the Lions have actually only won one playoff game (in 1991, against the Cowboys only to follow it by an absolute trouncing by the Redskins on their way to a SB victory). Matter of fact, they are arguably the team of the decade for the 1950s, winning 3 Championships and being runner up 2 more times.

I'm curious to know if Matt Millen can trace his heritage through the Layne family genealogy? He has certainly done his part to keep the Lions from the playoffs since he became GM in 2000.

I'm also fairly sure that they are getting up there in terms of teams who haven't won a championship in x years. In the NFL, of the 6 teams tied with the longest streak to have never won a Super Bowl (41 seasons and counting), only Detroit has never even gone to one. The other 5 teams have at least been once, and two of those teams have been 4 times without a victory.

All this being said, the curse's time limit is about to expire. With the changes that the Lions have made, you wonder if they are closing the gap and going to get their shot again soon. The offense is fine, as proven last season when Kitna was one of the top QBs in passing yards, attempts, and completions, with two fine receivers. However, the defense is still a question mark and they may have to go the Indy route of winning with offense rather than good D.

Ah, the hope of a true fan always springs eternal.