Back in November, a month before the end of the NFL's regular season, I wrote about the Detroit Lions and their march towards infamy as the only team to ever accrue a 0-16 record in the NFL. As we all know, they proceeded to lose their remaining games last season, securing their place in history as the shame of the football nation and the only team to ever end a 16-game season without a win.
What most are unaware of is the fact that the Lions have fulfilled destiny.
Rewind to the 1950s, an era that was very good for Detroit Lions football. Following the acquisition of future hall of fame quarterback Bobby Layne from the New York Bulldogs in 1950, the team went on to appear in four league championship games, winning three of them in 1952, 1953 and 1957. During the last championship season, however, Layne suffered an injury the Lions felt compromised his ability to perform on the field. Consequently, they traded him away to Pittsburgh in 1958, feeling they had gotten everything they could out of the damaged veteran quarterback.
According to legend, Layne, bitter towards Detroit for sending him packing after so many great years with the franchise, declared that the Lions would ""not win for 50 years."" Eerily enough, the Lions have not experienced another league championship since then. Not to mention, they also have accumulated the worst winning percentage of any team in the league, have been managed by incompetent front office personnel, have a history of poorly performing draft picks, and have only made it to the playoffs nine times, winning only one playoff game in 1991.
Worst of all, in 2008, 50 years after Layne was said to have made that foreboding remark, the Lions failed to win a single game. It is no wonder many believe the curse of Bobby Layne is real and that the fateful move to trade him 50 years ago was quite possibly the worst thing to happen to the once-prominent organization.
But signs that the Lions have done their time and that the curse may finally be lifted are beginning to surface. Obviously, the ousting of inept general manager Matt Millen last season was a step in the right direction, and of course they have secured a first overall pick in the 2009 NFL draft. Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford is clearly the frontrunner for the first overall pick in the draft, and the Lions could certainly use a player like Stafford on their squad. But with a season like the Lions had in 2008, one would imagine Stafford might pull a John Elway or Eli Manning and refuse to be drafted by them.
Fortunately for Detroit, Stafford said in a report last two weeks ago, ""I think I'm doing everything that I can to prove to people that I'm a good football player and worthy of the [first overall] pick, and if that so happens to be the first pick to the Detroit Lions, I'd be more than happy to be there."" That the best quarterback in the draft would be more than happy to go under center for a team that did not have a single win last year is a strong indication Bobby Layne's curse is no more.
So not only will the team get a great quarterback and a good sport in Stafford, they will finally have a complement to wide receiver Calvin Johnson, whose potential has been squandered so far thanks to the likes of John Kitna, Daunte Culpepper, Dan Orlovsky and Drew Stanton. Not only that, but the unknown and fresh faces of Martin Mayhew at general manager and Jim Schwartz at head coach might do for the beleaguered team what Thomas Dimitroff and Mike Smith did for the Falcons this year.
That, and as of 2009, the monkey of Bobby Layne's curse will finally be off Detroit's back. I would not predict any sort of miracles, but it may finally be time for the rise of the Lions.
Do you believe in the curse of Bobby Layne, and do you think the curse is finally being lifted? E-mail Andy your thoughts at avansistine@wisc.edu.
