With Arizona in the Super Bowl, Detroit Is Lonlier Than Ever

The football world is in shock and awe this morning. The Arizona Cardinals are in the Super Bowl. Yes, those Arizona Cardinals.

The Detroit Lions have been real bad for nearly a decade, but before that they were respectably mediocre for a good while. As much as Detroit fans don't want to admit it, there was a franchise worse than the Lions out there, playing in the same league, in the same conference.

The Arizona Cardinals.

Yes, the Cardinals who held the title of longest championship drought in the NFL. The Cardinals who had the second longest championship drought in professional sports! Second only to the Chicago Cubs infamous 100-year drought. (And you thought we had it bad Lions fans? Imagine living your entire life and never seeing a championship for your team!)

Sure, Arizona has won championships. So has Detroit. Think back to before there was a Super Bowl. Oh, you can't? That's ok, neither can I. Apparently such a time did in fact exist however.

The Arizona Cardinals, before last night, would have quickly pointed that fact out to you, because they won their last championship in 1947, 20 years before Super Bowl I.

The Detroit Lions won three championships in the 1950s, culminating in their 1957 championship, nine years before Super Bowl I. Yes, the Lions are celebrating the 50th anniversary of their last NFL championship. Nostalgic ain't it? Oh, I keep forgetting, you don't remember.

Before Arizona glued the wings to a couple of barnyard animals last night, they were one of four NFL franchises to have never played in a Super Bowl. The other three are New Orleans, Cleveland, and you guessed it, Detroit.

Cleveland won their last championship in 1964, just missing the birth of the Super Bowl.

New Orleans was an expansion team in 1967 and to date, they have never won a championship. However, that still means that the Saints have only gone 41 years without a title compared to Detroit's 50.

So what does that mean everybody? (All together now) Detroit now stands alone as the most inept franchise in the NFL.

Before last night, Lions fans could at the very least point to Arizona and say "1957," and Arizona fans would nod slowly, put their heads down and slink away.

Now that distinction weighs on Detroit, and Detroit alone. They now receive the title of longest championship drought in the NFL. They now also receive the title of third-longest championship drought in professional sports, behind the Sacramento Kings of 1951.

Is there hope? Well, as Drew Sharp of the Detroit Free Press pointed out, Arizona finally stumbled upon the right coach, and the right players, and then they took a chance on an aging Kurt Warner who everyone thought was washed up. Arizona alone held out hope that Warner had some magic left in that arm, and they were right.

Was it luck? Arizona has never really had a great quarterback of note, no hall of fame quarterbacks to speak of since they were known as the Chicago Cardinals.

At least Detroit had Bobby Layne, who newly hired head coach Jim Schwartz said the Lions are still trying to replace.

So yes, I'd say in part, Arizona got lucky.

What would be the equivalent for Detroit?

Well, for starters, Jim Schwartz would have to be the right hire. His coordinators would have to be the right hires, Mayhew and the front office would have to draft the right players, and on top of all that, throw a little luck in.

How would luck be defined for Detroit in this scenario? How about Tom Brady getting healthy enough to convince New England that they don't really need a multi-millionaire backup quarterback in Matt Cassel, and they offer him up for trade...to Detroit.

Yeah, probably not going to happen.

So how long will Detroit go? Will the 50 year streak of futility be extended?

Of course, the infamous curse of Bobby Layne is now over, so it would be the opportune time to, you know...win some games.

Hopefully there's a renewed sense of urgency though. It gets pretty lonely when there's no one to lean against the wall of shame along with you.

Note: Some facts and figures in this article were taken from the Detroit Free Press, credited to journalist, Drew Sharp.