First things first, the Detroit Lions are 50/1 to win the Super Bowl. The only team with a worse chance (according to Las Vegas) is the Arizona Cardinals. (Super Bowl Odds are from the our best online sportsbook)
Simply put, if you thing the Lions will win the Super Bowl, you should bet them now! 50/1 means you can bet $100 on the Lions, and if they win, you would win $5,000. That’s a great payday.
The Detroit Lions are one of the most venerable members of the National Football League having originally been formed way back in 1929. However, despite their rich history they have not enjoyed a sustained run at success over their time in the NFL. Still they are a team that is well respected and today enjoys a substantial fan base.
The History of the Detroit Lions
The team was founded in 1929 as the Portsmouth Spartans, a team that drew players from the semi-professional ranks. Although not initially a member of the NFL, it did play teams from that league and enjoyed some success against them. The city of Portsmouth built a new stadium for their Spartans and the team joined the NFL in 1930. They managed to earn a mediocre 5-6-3 record in their first season.
One of the most interesting successes Portsmouth had was in 1932 against the Green Bay Packers where they only played 11 players with no substitutions. The Spartans defeated the Packers 19 to 0 on that day. That was the same year that Portsmouth played in their first NFL playoff game against the Chicago Bears to the indoor confines of Chicago Stadium because of blizzard conditions. The Spartans lost 9 to 0 that day and the following year the Eastern and Western Conferences of the NFL was formed.
The Great Depression hit the city of Portsmouth hard and they team was moved to Detroit and renamed the Lions in 1934 as a nod to the Detroit Tigers. The Lions made history in 1935 by playing in their first Thanksgiving Day game which is a tradition that continues to this day. 1935 was also the year that Detroit won its first NFL Championship defeating the New York Giants 26 to 7.
However, that was the high point for the Lions as the next 15 years saw them struggling to win games. The only notable achievement was in 1943 when the Lions and Giants played to a 0 to 0 tie, the last time an NFL game ended in a scoreless tie.
The 1950s saw Detroit enjoy its greatest success in the NFL thanks in large part to its legendary quarterback Bobby Layne who led the Lions to its first NFL Championship Game in 1952 and defeated the vaunted Cleveland Browns under legendary coach Paul Brown 17 to 7. The Lions managed to repeat the following year against the Browns 17 to 16 thanks to a late touchdown pass from Layne to Jim Doran. However, in 1954 the Cleveland Browns got their revenge and beat the Lions badly 56 to 10 to deny the Lions a third consecutive championship.
In 1957, the Lions managed to get back into the NFC Championship Game again despite Layne being injured and out of the contest. This time, the Lions managed to rout Cleveland 59 to 14 and bring home their third NFC Championship in just six years, a remarkable achievement.
However, that would be the last successful run by the Lions as of this date. Since that time, the Lions have only won a single playoff game and have yet to manage even threaten a championship run. The legend says that this was because following their last Championship win in 1957 the Lions traded Layne who had been injured to Pittsburg. According to the legend, Layne cursed the Lions and stated that they would not win another championship for fifty years. While the curse was never confirmed to have actually happened, what is true is that the Lions have yet to win in well over 50 years an NFL Championship.
By the 1960s, the Lions were still potent, but they could not seem to catch a break as they won the first “Playoff Bowl” which was a temporary experiment between the runners-up of each conference which did not advance the team in the playoff system. This experiment stayed in place until 1970 when the AFL officially merged with the NFL.
Perhaps the most noted achievement of this time was not the Lions themselves, but instead how they served as part of the literary backdrop of George Plimpton who spent some time in the Lions’ training camp pretending to be a player and writing about the experienced for his book “Paper Lion” which was eventually made into a film.
By the 1970s, the Lions continued their struggles despite going 10 – 4 in 1970, only to lose to the Dallas Cowboys. Tragedy struck on October 24th, 1971 when their wide receiver Chuck Hughes actually died on the field because of a massive heart attack, the only player in NFL history to die in such a manner. The Lions continued to struggle throughout the 70’s and into the 1980s despite acquiring some talented players along the way.
In 1980, the Lions drafted Oklahoma running back Billy Sims who led them to some success, but they could never make the playoffs and struggled to put together winning seasons. However, their fortune changed in 1989 when they drafted Oklahoma State running back Barry Sanders. His incredible abilities combined with his humble nature helped give the Lions hope even as they struggled on the field.
However, by 1991 they had managed to up their game and went 12 – 4 over that season, only to lose Mike Utley, an offensive guard to a paralyzing injury. Still, the managed to defeat the Dallas Cowboys 38 to 6 in their first playoff game only to get smashed by the Washington Redskins 41 to 10 in the NFC Championship Game.
With Barry Sanders on their team, the Lions continued to make the playoffs over the course of the 1990s, but they never could win another post-season game. While Barry Sanders managed to rush for an amazing 2,053 yards in 1997, he retired from the Lions at the end of the decade which led to a downward spiral for the team.
Today, the Lions seem ready to return as in 2014 they have made the playoffs yet again. Whether they can sustain success is another matter, but this storied franchise certainly has a rich history in the city of Detroit.
