How the Detroit Lions Went from Upstart NFL Contenders to Failure on All Fronts

Detroit, MI—How did it all go wrong? When did it all go wrong? WHY did it all go wrong?

What did they do to deserve this?

As we all know by now, the Detroit Lions gained a new measure of infamy in 2008, going 0-16 in the regular season. Achieving this feat was such an improbability that many fans even refused to allow for it as the Lions entered their last game of the season, hoping against hope that the team they had continued to support through all the rough times would pull out a victory.

Nothing doing. The Lions lost, and the most un-sought-after record in all of sports was attained.

How ironic that the game was not only against the Packers, but it was played a Lambeau Field. Two names that were present at the lowest point in franchise history were also there at the beginning: Curly Lambeau and the Green Bay Packers.

In the Beginning...

Things weren't always this bad. In 1930 the Portsmouth Spartans, as the Lions where then known, made a somewhat inauspicious start to their NFL life, going 5-6-3 in their debut year.

However, the very next year they went 11-3, and were set to face the Green Bay Packers, coached by Curly Lambeau, in a "tentatively scheduled" championship game between the league's two top teams.

However, the game never happened. The Packers, citing rules in place at the time which allowed any team to cancel a "tentative" game at will, called the game off after beating the Chicago Bears, and the game never happened. No one reason was identified as the one that kept the Packers from playing the game.

Head Coach Potsy Clark knew different, however. In 1932, the Spartans played the Packers on Dec. 4, the same day of the previous year that the Packers had bowed out of the supposed championship matchup. Clark played the game "iron-man" style, using only 11 players the entire game, to show the world he knew why the Packers had quit—they were afraid of the Spartans.

Clark and the Spartans won the game 19-0.

That same year, the Lions faced off against the Chicago Bears in an "unofficial" championship game, which the Bears won 9-0, in the Spartans last official football game.

Financial troubles and the lure of a large market combined to end the Spartans run in Portsmouth, Ohio, and the team moved to Detroit and took on their current moniker.

The Detroit Lions, Hear them Roar?

Detroit made hay quickly in the NFL, winning the championship in the pre-Super Bowl years in 1935. What followed was 15 years of ups and downs, including the Lions first no-win season in 1942 when they went 0-11.

Then came the '50s. In 1950, the Lions acquired one Bobby Layne, and his impact was immediate. He and head coach Bo McMillin were at loggerheads as to who should call the plays; McMillin wanted total control to send all the plays in, Layne said the quarterback should have some control.

Layne prevailed, McMillin was bought out and replaced by Buddy Parker, and after two years of building, Layne led the Lions to win the NFL Championship, their first in 12 years, in 1952. He followed this up with a second championship in 1953, but was unable to pull of a three-peat in 1954 when the Lions fell to Cleveland.

Three years later the Lions were headed to another title when disaster struck. Layne broke his leg in three places and was replaced at quarterback by Tobin Rote.

The Lions went on to win the championship that year, but Layne was unable to return to form in time to compete.

The Curse

In typical "we don't really know what we are doing, but we own the team and we're going to do it anyways" fashion, the front office of the Lions decided that both quarterbacks would be used the next year, with each quarterback alternating quarters in the game.

Layne was openly critical of this, even calling out some of the coaching staff and Detroit writers at the time in a public interview.

Then came the call: Layne had been traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers for another player and two draft picks. No sit down, no visit. Just a call from the new head coach.

As Layne would recall later, it was "a pretty crude way to brush him off after all those years."

That wasn't all Layne was reported to have said. Although no official records exist, Bobby was said to have cursed the Lions with poor play and failure for the next 50 years, even stating that "I'd like to win a championship for the Steelers and for myself to shove down Detroit's throat."

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