Lions still looking for elusive first Super Bowl trip

Lions still looking for elusive first Super Bowl trip

The Detroit Lions have been in existence for a long time. In fact, they are older than all but four other NFL franchises (the Bears and Cardinals were both original members of the American Pro Football Association in 1920, the Packers joined a year later and the Giants entered the NFL in 1925). 

The preceding statement makes this next fact difficult for fans of the team to stomach. The Lions are one of four teams never to reach a Super Bowl. The Texans didn’t start play until 2002, and the Jaguars began only seven years earlier. The Browns last won a championship in 1964, leaving Detroit fans as those longest suffering for a championship, since the Lions last won an NFL title in 1957. 

However, the Lions didn’t originally call Detroit home. The team began operations in 1928 as the Spartans and resided in Portsmouth, Ohio, a small town on the state’s southern tip. At that time, the NFL included teams in Green Bay, Providence, Dayton, Pottsville and Frankford in Pennsylvania, and Orange, New Jersey. 

Much like the ownership situation in Green Bay, residents of Portsmouth had an ownership stake in the team. The Spartans began snapping up players from independent professional and semipro teams that had ceased operations, but the NFL was gradually trying to phase out small-town teams and focus on expanding to larger cities. The league denied the team’s request for a franchise in 1929. 

In order to change their fortunes, the Spartans had to show they could compete with more established teams. In mid-September that year, Portsmouth played its first game against the Packers. Despite a 14-0 loss, the Spartans battled against a team that would finish 12-0-1 and wins the NFL Championship that season. In addition, Portsmouth won two out of three games against the Ironton Tanks, another team from a small town in Ohio who had played exhibitions against NFL teams throughout the decade. 

Aside from the game against the Packers and two wins against the Tanks, the NFL had to recognize the support of the city’s fans. Portsmouth residents approved funding for the construction of 8,000-seat Universal Stadium. The league finally relented and allowed the Spartans to start to play in the 1930 season. Portsmouth became the second smallest city to host an NFL team, with the town having a slightly larger population than Green Bay. 

The Spartans started 4-1-1 in their first season, including a 13-6 win over the Newark Tornadoes in their first game and a 7-6 upset of the Bears in Week 6. However, the club struggled downs the stretch and finished 5-6-3. 

Portsmouth improved in 1931 under new coach George “Potsy” Clark, who previously led Kansas and Butler. The team started 8-0 behind the backfield tandem of Earl “Dutch” Clark and Glenn Presnell, who combined for 19 of the team’s 26 touchdowns. However, the Spartans split their final six games, including road losses to the Bears, Giants, and Cardinals, and finished 11-3, a game behind Green Bay for the championship. 

Presnell and Dutch Clark starred again for Portsmouth in 1932, and the team was once again in the hunt for the title. In early December, the Spartans defeated the Packers 19-0 in what is now called the “Iron Man Game,” because the team used only 11 players throughout. The win pushed the Spartans to 6-1-4 and knocked Green Bay (10-2-1) out of first place by percentage points, but the Bears were still in the running. 

Chicago stayed even with a win over the Giants, then beat the Packers the following week to improve to 6-1-6. Since the NFL did not count ties, Portsmouth and Chicago had identical 6-1 records. The teams met on December 18 to determine the championship, but a blizzard moved the game inside from Wrigley Field to Chicago Stadium. 

The indoor field was only 80 yards long, and the Bears won, 9-0, with the winning score on a pass from Bronko Nagurski to Red Grange in the fourth quarter. The popularity of the game led the NFL to split into divisions and have a championship game between the winners to end the season. 

Portsmouth finished 6-5 in 1933, good enough for second place behind the champion Bears. However, low attendance, plus the financial strains brought about by the Great Depression, spelled the end of football in the small town. The city sold the Spartans to a group led by radio station owner George Richards, who moved the team to Detroit and renamed them the Lions to complement the city’s Tigers baseball team. 

The Lions challenged for the title in their first season in Detroit, in large part due to Dutch Clark, Presnell and LeRoy “Ace” Gutowski, who combined for 22 touchdowns. The club ended the season with a 12-3 record, but the Bears went 13-0 before losing to the Giants in the NFL Championship Games. 

Detroit dropped to 7-3-2 in 1935, but edged out the Packers, Bears, and Cardinals for the Western Division crown. In the title game, Gutowski and Dutch Clark had first-quarter touchdowns and the Lions scored four times on the ground in a 26-7 win over the Giants for the franchise’s first championship. The victory was the second in a trio of Detroit professional titles. The Tigers won the 1935 World Series and the Red Wings took home the Stanley Cup in the 1935-36 season. 

The club finished with a winning record for the next four years, including a 7-4 mark in 1938, which was one game behind the Packers. After the season, Dutch Clark and another top back, Ernie Caddel, retired. Potsy Clark left two years later, and the Lions spent most of the 1940s languishing at the bottom of the NFL standings. Richards sold the team to Chicago department store owner Fred Mandel Jr. in 1940. 

In 1942, the team went 0-11, scored only 38 points all season and was shut out five times. Two years later, star back Frank Sinkwich, the first overall pick in 1943, was named the league’s MVP and the Lions went 6-3-1. Also, the Lions and Giants played to a 0-0 draw in early November marking the last scoreless tie in the NFL. In 1948, Mandel sold the franchise to electrical supply company owner D. Lyle Fife and brewing company executive Edwin J. Anderson. 

While Detroit had several great running backs in their early years, the team had yet to see a star quarterback grace Briggs (later Tiger) Stadium. The lack of a top signal-caller changed in 1950, when the team traded for Bobby Layne, a former University of Texas star who showed flashes of greatness for the 1-11 New York Bulldogs.

The team found a new head coach in former Lions and Cardinals player Raymond “Buddy” Parker. He had been a co-coach in Chicago with Phil Handler before taking over as backfield coach in Detroit. He assumed the head position when Alvin “Bo” McMillin left to coach the Eagles. 

Parker had some offensive weapons in addition to Layne, including running back Bob Hoernschemeyer and receivers Leon Hart and Cloyce Box. The team had a winning record in 1951, then went 9-3 and tied for National Division crown the following year. The Lions defeated the Rams, 31-21, in the Division game, then held Otto Graham and the Browns in check for a 17-7 victory in the NFL Championship Game, giving the team its first title in 17 years. 

The Lions enjoyed their best season in 1953. They went 10-2 and featured seven Pro Bowlers along with rookie linebacker Joe Schmidt, who eventually would join teammates Layne, Jack Christiansen, Dick Stanfel, Lou Creekmur, Yale Lary and Doak Walker in the Hall of Fame. Detroit and Cleveland faced off for the crown again. Layne threw a late 33-yard touchdown pass to Jim Doran, and the Lions won, 17-16, for their third title. 

The teams would meet in the NFL Championship Game for a third straight year in 1954, although this time the Browns dominated in a 56-10 win. After a down year, the Lions went 9-3 in 1956, but finished one-half game behind the Bears. Chicago defeated Detroit in the final game, but the tide turned after a questionable hit that knocked Layne out of action with a concussion. 

Parker surprisingly resigned during the 1957 preseason and joined the Steelers. The Lions replaced him with receivers coach George Wilson and kept their run of success going with an 8-4 record and a tie with the 49ers atop the Western Division. 

Hall of Fame quarterback Y.A. Tittle led San Francisco to a 24-7 halftime lead in the Division game, but thanks to the thin walls between the locker rooms, Detroit heard their opponents celebrating prematurely. Tom Tracy scored two second-half touchdowns and the Lions stormed back for a 31-27 victory. Detroit demolished the Browns for their fourth and final title and they're third against Cleveland. 

After the championship, the Lions reached the playoffs only three times and had 10 winning records in the next 33 seasons. They went 11-3 in 1962, but finished behind the 13-1 Packers in the Western Division. The following year, the power struggle between Fife and Anderson came to a head, and the team was sold to William Clay Ford Sr. for $4.5 million. Ford was an executive with the Ford Motor Company and the grandson of auto pioneer Henry Ford. 

In 1970, Detroit went 10-4 and lost 5-0 to Dallas in a Division round game. The Lions missed the playoffs for the next 12 seasons before going back-to-back years in 1982-83. The club’s most successful season in the Super Bowl era was in 1991. Behind three All-Pros, running back Barry Sanders, linebacker Chris Spielman and kick returner, Mel Gary, Detroit went 12-4 and won the Central Division. 

After dispatching the Cowboys in the Division round game, the Lions faced off against the best team in the NFL, the 14-2 Redskins. Erik Kramer threw a touchdown pass and Detroit only trailed 17-10 at halftime, but Washington stifled Sanders and held the Lions scoreless the rest of the way in a 41-10 victory. 

Detroit went to the playoffs four times in eight full seasons under former defensive coordinator Wayne Fontes, who held the same position in Tampa Bay in the early 1980s. The Lions earned a postseason berth three straight years from 1993-95, but lost in the Wild Card round each time. 

Fontes was fired after the 1996 season and was replaced by Bobby Ross, who had led the Chargers to Super Bowl XXIX three years before. Detroit made the playoffs in two of his three seasons at the helm, but failed to win either year. 

Sanders abruptly retired after the 1999 season after rushing for 15,269 yards in 10 years, which ranked second all-time behind Walter Payton (Emmitt Smith eventually passed both of them). The third overall pick in the 1989 Draft was the league’s Most Valuable Player in 1997 after running for 2,053 yards, one of only seven players in league history to reach the 2,000-yard mark. 

The team hired Matt Millen as President and CEO in 2001, but they did not have a winning record under the former linebacker and broadcaster. Fans began to chant “Fire Millen” during games, but the situation came to a head after the Lions went 0-16 in 2008, the first winless year in the NFL since the Baltimore Colts went 0-8-1 in the strike-shortened 1982 season. Millen was fired early in the season. 

With quarterback Matthew Stafford and wide receiver Calvin Johnson leading the way, the Lions have gone to the playoffs three times under Rod Marinelli, Jim Schwartz, Jim Caldwell and now Matt Patricia, losing in the Wild Card round each time. Ford died of pneumonia in 2014, five days before his 89th birthday. His wife, Martha Firestone Ford, now serves as principal owner and chairwoman. 

The Lions are looking to win their first playoff game since 1991. Stafford is joined by receivers Kenny Golladay, Jermaine Kearse, and Danny Amendola to lead a potent passing game. The defense includes Pro Bowl cornerback Darius Slay, linebacker Jarrad Davis and linemen Trey Flowers and Damon “Snacks” Harrison.

-By: Kevin Rakas