Team of the '50s, Browns or Lions?
Re: Team of the '50s, Browns or Lions?
Good point, but if no Browns were around, Detroit probably would have won 4 championships and the closest to that probably would have been Baltimore's 2.
Re: Team of the '50s, Browns or Lions?
History would have changed completely so we have no way of knowing who would have won what or how many.
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JohnTurney
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Re: Team of the '50s, Browns or Lions?
History is like that. We miss so much that the "what ifs" and "what could have been" are fascinationsJohnH19 wrote:History would have changed completely so we have no way of knowing who would have won what or how many.
I would love to (as most of us) seen and AFl-NFL Championship starting in 1963--65
And and NFL and AAFC championship all along . . .
oh well
Re: Team of the '50s, Browns or Lions?
I would have loved to see a Minnesota-Denver matchup in SB 33 and a Favre-Manning matchup in SB 44...sigh...
Re: Team of the '50s, Browns or Lions?
So, why did Detroit dominate Cleveland during the 1950's (other than the 1954 championship)? I think that I can give a few good reasons (or excuses if you will).
1. Detroit was a great football team.
2. Cleveland's great end, Mac Speedie, never played in any championship games against Detroit. Speedie was out with an injury during the 1952 contest and played in Canada after that.
3. Marion Motley was past it due to leg injuries after 1950. By the time of the 1952 championship game, Chick Jagade was the starting fullback for Cleveland.
4. Detroit was very good at getting up for big games, and they were always up for the Cleveland Browns, who were Detroit's arch rival for NFL supremacy during the 50's.
5. The breaks seemed to go Detroit's way during the 1952 and 1953 title games; not so in the 1954 championship. Detroit also won a regular season game in 1954 against Cleveland, but the game was meaningless as both teams had their divisions clinched. The following week, Cleveland won the championship game, 56 to 10.
6. Detroit picked the best year to challenge Cleveland in 1952 because the Browns had their first real off year then, and basically backed into winning the title in the east. Otto Graham said that his attitude reeked that year. Otto was getting tired of the training camps and the separations from his family. 1952 was also the first year since 1946 that Cleveland was not the defending league champions. Cleveland's record was a mediocre (for them) 8 wins and 4 losses that included 2 losses to the Giants and 2 losses to Detroit (counting the title game).
7. After 1956, the quarterbacks for their games were usually Tobin Rote for Detroit and Milt Plum for Cleveland. Rote was a veteran and could be very dangerous (just ask the Boston Patriots after the 1963 AFL title game). Milt Plum was a rookie in 1957 and was not considered a great quarterback.
8. Cleveland was doing a lot of rebuilding from 1952 on. Most of the original Browns were gone and others were getting old and maybe slipping. Players like Lou Rymkus, Edgar Jones, Lou Saban, Cliff Lewis, Forrest "Chubby" Grigg, Tony Adamle, Alex Agase, Ed Ulinski, Bob Gaudio, Hal Herring, Weldon Humble, Rex Bumgardner, and Mac Soeedie were gone, and Marion Motley was not the same as he had been.
9. Beating Cleveland twice in 1952 gave the Detroit Lions tremendous confidence when it came to playing the Cleveland Browns. Once they knew that they could beat Cleveland, it became very hard for Cleveland to beat Detroit.
10. Don't know if this is true or not, but Paul Brown in an interview said that Detroit's Buddy Parker hired someone to spy on Cleveland's practices from a rented house across the street from the practice field. Brown said that this hurt the Browns quite a bit.
Too late to submit these to Letterman.
1. Detroit was a great football team.
2. Cleveland's great end, Mac Speedie, never played in any championship games against Detroit. Speedie was out with an injury during the 1952 contest and played in Canada after that.
3. Marion Motley was past it due to leg injuries after 1950. By the time of the 1952 championship game, Chick Jagade was the starting fullback for Cleveland.
4. Detroit was very good at getting up for big games, and they were always up for the Cleveland Browns, who were Detroit's arch rival for NFL supremacy during the 50's.
5. The breaks seemed to go Detroit's way during the 1952 and 1953 title games; not so in the 1954 championship. Detroit also won a regular season game in 1954 against Cleveland, but the game was meaningless as both teams had their divisions clinched. The following week, Cleveland won the championship game, 56 to 10.
6. Detroit picked the best year to challenge Cleveland in 1952 because the Browns had their first real off year then, and basically backed into winning the title in the east. Otto Graham said that his attitude reeked that year. Otto was getting tired of the training camps and the separations from his family. 1952 was also the first year since 1946 that Cleveland was not the defending league champions. Cleveland's record was a mediocre (for them) 8 wins and 4 losses that included 2 losses to the Giants and 2 losses to Detroit (counting the title game).
7. After 1956, the quarterbacks for their games were usually Tobin Rote for Detroit and Milt Plum for Cleveland. Rote was a veteran and could be very dangerous (just ask the Boston Patriots after the 1963 AFL title game). Milt Plum was a rookie in 1957 and was not considered a great quarterback.
8. Cleveland was doing a lot of rebuilding from 1952 on. Most of the original Browns were gone and others were getting old and maybe slipping. Players like Lou Rymkus, Edgar Jones, Lou Saban, Cliff Lewis, Forrest "Chubby" Grigg, Tony Adamle, Alex Agase, Ed Ulinski, Bob Gaudio, Hal Herring, Weldon Humble, Rex Bumgardner, and Mac Soeedie were gone, and Marion Motley was not the same as he had been.
9. Beating Cleveland twice in 1952 gave the Detroit Lions tremendous confidence when it came to playing the Cleveland Browns. Once they knew that they could beat Cleveland, it became very hard for Cleveland to beat Detroit.
10. Don't know if this is true or not, but Paul Brown in an interview said that Detroit's Buddy Parker hired someone to spy on Cleveland's practices from a rented house across the street from the practice field. Brown said that this hurt the Browns quite a bit.
Too late to submit these to Letterman.
Re: Team of the '50s, Browns or Lions?
When I was a young lad, I heard some say that the Cleveland Browns were just lucky that they did not play in the wild and wooly Western Conference. So, just thought that we could take a closer look at the real truth of this.
True, the Cleveland Browns had some trouble with the Detroit Lions starting with the 1952 season, but let's see how the Browns did against the other powers in the west. Start with the Rams. The LA Rams did beat Cleveland in the 1951 championship, 24 to 17, but Cleveland beat the Rams in the 1950 title game, and a regular season game in 1951, 38 to 23. Also a 37 to 7 win in the 1952 opener, and the 1955 championship, 38 to 14. The Browns also beat the Ram in 1957 and 1958. So, other than the 1951 championship, Cleveland seemed to have the Rams number.
San Francisco was one of the tougher teams in the west during the early 50's, but Cleveland beat them 34 to 14 in 1950, 23 to 21 in 1953 when Otto was knocked out on a cheap shot and missed much of the game (the 49ers finished 2nd in the west with a 9 and 3 record that year), and 38 to 3 in 1955. The 49ers did beat the Browns, 24 to 10, in the 1951 opener for Cleveland's only regular season loss that year. The 49ers also beat Cleveland 21 to 20 in 1959. I won't go into the AAFC years.
Then there was the Chicago Bears. Cleveland beat them at Wrigley 42 to 21 in 1951. The Browns beat the Bears, 39 to 10 in 1954, and 42 to 0 in 1960.
Detroit starting improving their team a lot starting in 1950 by adding great players in the draft and with trades and in the AAFC dispersal draft (1950). Getting guys like Bobby Layne, Doak Walker, Hunchy Hoernschemeyer, Thurman McGraw, Leon Hart, Lou Creekmur, Cloyce Box (actually a rookie in 1949), Dorne Dibble, Jim Doran, Dick Stanfel, Vince Banonis, Pat Harder, Jack Christiansen, Yale Lary, Lavern Torgeson, Jim David, etc., etc. to go along with their great head coach, Buddy Parker, Detroit was a powerhouse by 1952, after being a perennial loser during the 1940's.
Cleveland's games with Detroit were usually tough, hard fought, close games with Detroit coming out on top during the Otto Graham years (1952-54), except for the 1954 championship which was won by Cleveland, 56 to 10. After that, in 1957 and 1958, Detroit beat Cleveland easily 3 times, including the 1957 championship, 59 to 14, which was the beginning of the Jim Brown era for the Browns.
The Eastern Conference was really the tougher conference in 1950 and 1951 with Cleveland, the revamped Giants, and Philadelphia (in 1950). The west got tougher from 1952 through 1954, but the east was tougher in 1955 and 1956 with the Giants getting tougher and teams like the Rams, 49ers, and even Detroit declining for awhile (Detroit fell to last place in 1955 with a 3 and 9 record, but came back in 1956 and 1957). The Rams won the west in 1955, but were never much after that. In the west, Baltimore became the power in 1958 and 1959.
So, Cleveland dominated in 1950 and 1951, albeit losing the 1951 championship, Detroit in 1952 and 1953, with Cleveland again in 1954 and 1955. Later, Cleveland was a consistently good team from 1957 on, but no NFL Championships. Detroit regained the NFL Championship in 1957, but had losing seasons in 1955, 1958, and 1959.
True, the Cleveland Browns had some trouble with the Detroit Lions starting with the 1952 season, but let's see how the Browns did against the other powers in the west. Start with the Rams. The LA Rams did beat Cleveland in the 1951 championship, 24 to 17, but Cleveland beat the Rams in the 1950 title game, and a regular season game in 1951, 38 to 23. Also a 37 to 7 win in the 1952 opener, and the 1955 championship, 38 to 14. The Browns also beat the Ram in 1957 and 1958. So, other than the 1951 championship, Cleveland seemed to have the Rams number.
San Francisco was one of the tougher teams in the west during the early 50's, but Cleveland beat them 34 to 14 in 1950, 23 to 21 in 1953 when Otto was knocked out on a cheap shot and missed much of the game (the 49ers finished 2nd in the west with a 9 and 3 record that year), and 38 to 3 in 1955. The 49ers did beat the Browns, 24 to 10, in the 1951 opener for Cleveland's only regular season loss that year. The 49ers also beat Cleveland 21 to 20 in 1959. I won't go into the AAFC years.
Then there was the Chicago Bears. Cleveland beat them at Wrigley 42 to 21 in 1951. The Browns beat the Bears, 39 to 10 in 1954, and 42 to 0 in 1960.
Detroit starting improving their team a lot starting in 1950 by adding great players in the draft and with trades and in the AAFC dispersal draft (1950). Getting guys like Bobby Layne, Doak Walker, Hunchy Hoernschemeyer, Thurman McGraw, Leon Hart, Lou Creekmur, Cloyce Box (actually a rookie in 1949), Dorne Dibble, Jim Doran, Dick Stanfel, Vince Banonis, Pat Harder, Jack Christiansen, Yale Lary, Lavern Torgeson, Jim David, etc., etc. to go along with their great head coach, Buddy Parker, Detroit was a powerhouse by 1952, after being a perennial loser during the 1940's.
Cleveland's games with Detroit were usually tough, hard fought, close games with Detroit coming out on top during the Otto Graham years (1952-54), except for the 1954 championship which was won by Cleveland, 56 to 10. After that, in 1957 and 1958, Detroit beat Cleveland easily 3 times, including the 1957 championship, 59 to 14, which was the beginning of the Jim Brown era for the Browns.
The Eastern Conference was really the tougher conference in 1950 and 1951 with Cleveland, the revamped Giants, and Philadelphia (in 1950). The west got tougher from 1952 through 1954, but the east was tougher in 1955 and 1956 with the Giants getting tougher and teams like the Rams, 49ers, and even Detroit declining for awhile (Detroit fell to last place in 1955 with a 3 and 9 record, but came back in 1956 and 1957). The Rams won the west in 1955, but were never much after that. In the west, Baltimore became the power in 1958 and 1959.
So, Cleveland dominated in 1950 and 1951, albeit losing the 1951 championship, Detroit in 1952 and 1953, with Cleveland again in 1954 and 1955. Later, Cleveland was a consistently good team from 1957 on, but no NFL Championships. Detroit regained the NFL Championship in 1957, but had losing seasons in 1955, 1958, and 1959.
Re: Team of the '50s, Browns or Lions?
Saban wrote:When I was a young lad, I heard some say that the Cleveland Browns were just lucky that they did not play in the wild and wooly Western Conference. So, just thought that we could take a closer look at the real truth of this.
True, the Cleveland Browns had some trouble with the Detroit Lions starting with the 1952 season, but let's see how the Browns did against the other powers in the west. Start with the Rams. The LA Rams did beat Cleveland in the 1951 championship, 24 to 17, but Cleveland beat the Rams in the 1950 title game, and a regular season game in 1951, 38 to 23. Also a 37 to 7 win in the 1952 opener, and the 1955 championship, 38 to 14. The Browns also beat the Ram in 1957 and 1958. So, other than the 1951 championship, Cleveland seemed to have the Rams number.
San Francisco was one of the tougher teams in the west during the early 50's, but Cleveland beat them 34 to 14 in 1950, 23 to 21 in 1953 when Otto was knocked out on a cheap shot and missed much of the game (the 49ers finished 2nd in the west with a 9 and 3 record that year), and 38 to 3 in 1955. The 49ers did beat the Browns, 24 to 10, in the 1951 opener for Cleveland's only regular season loss that year. The 49ers also beat Cleveland 21 to 20 in 1959. I won't go into the AAFC years.
Then there was the Chicago Bears. Cleveland beat them at Wrigley 42 to 21 in 1951. The Browns beat the Bears, 39 to 10 in 1954, and 42 to 0 in 1960.
Detroit starting improving their team a lot starting in 1950 by adding great players in the draft and with trades and in the AAFC dispersal draft (1950). Getting guys like Bobby Layne, Doak Walker, Hunchy Hoernschemeyer, Thurman McGraw, Leon Hart, Lou Creekmur, Cloyce Box (actually a rookie in 1949), Dorne Dibble, Jim Doran, Dick Stanfel, Vince Banonis, Pat Harder, Jack Christiansen, Yale Lary, Lavern Torgeson, Jim David, etc., etc. to go along with their great head coach, Buddy Parker, Detroit was a powerhouse by 1952, after being a perennial loser during the 1940's.
Cleveland's games with Detroit were usually tough, hard fought, close games with Detroit coming out on top during the Otto Graham years (1952-54), except for the 1954 championship which was won by Cleveland, 56 to 10. After that, in 1957 and 1958, Detroit beat Cleveland easily 3 times, including the 1957 championship, 59 to 14, which was the beginning of the Jim Brown era for the Browns.
The Eastern Conference was really the tougher conference in 1950 and 1951 with Cleveland, the revamped Giants, and Philadelphia (in 1950). The west got tougher from 1952 through 1954, but the east was tougher in 1955 and 1956 with the Giants getting tougher and teams like the Rams, 49ers, and even Detroit declining for awhile (Detroit fell to last place in 1955 with a 3 and 9 record, but came back in 1956 and 1957). The Rams won the west in 1955, but were never much after that. In the west, Baltimore became the power in 1958 and 1959.
So, Cleveland dominated in 1950 and 1951, albeit losing the 1951 championship, Detroit in 1952 and 1953, with Cleveland again in 1954 and 1955. Later, Cleveland was a consistently good team from 1957 on, but no NFL Championships. Detroit regained the NFL Championship in 1957, but had losing seasons in 1955, 1958, and 1959.
A couple of mistakes regarding the Browns-Bears games during the 1950's. The 1951 game, won by Cleveland 42 to 21, was played in Cleveland, and the 1954 game, won by the Browns 39 to 10, was played at Wrigley Field in Chicago. I had it the other way around.
The Detroit Lions had another great draft in 1953, picking up Joe Schmidt, Harley Sewell, Ollie Spencer, Lou Carpenter, Gene Gedman, Carl Karilivacz, Gil Mains, and Charlie Ane. They had plenty of talent in 1952, so they were really loaded in 1953.
Three of their rookies were listed as starters on their offensive line in 1953, Ane at left tackle, Sewell at left guard, and Spencer at right tackle. This may seem like a lot of rookies for the offensive line, but they had Lou Creekmur, one of the best offensive linemen in football, ready to fill in if any of the rookies were having any trouble. With guys like Ane, Sewell, and probably Spencer, I doubt that they ever had very much trouble. Besides, Detroit had starters Vince Banonis at center and Dick Stanfel at right guard.
Their backfield that year was Bobby Layne at quarterback, Hunchy Hoernschemeyer at right halfback, Doak Walker at left halfback/flanker, with Ollie Cline getting the most playing time at fullback due to an injury to Pat Harder. That is quite a backfield. Layne and Walker are in the HOF and Hoernschemeyer maybe should be (Hunchy averaged 4.8 yards per carry in 1953 with 7 rushing TD's and caught 23 passes for 282 yards and 2 TD's).
The draft not only gave the Lions some good starters in 1953 and beyond (all the rookies mentioned ended up starting for Detroit sometime during their careers), but also gave them great depth and a young team that figured to be a championship contender for a long time. Starting in 1952, Detroit played in 4 NFL Championship games winning 3, with the last championship in 1957. So, their championship dynasty lasted 6 years with Detroit also finishing 2nd in 1956. Only one off year in 1955 when Detroit inexplicably finished last with a 3 and 9 record. The Lions also finished tied for 2nd in 1951.
I won't go into Detroit's defense, which was always tough during their salad years, other than maybe 1955, but getting Joe Schmidt in 1953 didn't hurt at all.
Re: Team of the '50s, Browns or Lions?
The Cleveland Browns' and Detroit Lions' NFL championship runs during the 50's both lasted 6 years. 1950 through 1955 for the Browns and 1952 through 1957 for the Lions. For the Detroit Lions, there was one big hole in their run, which was in 1955 when Detroit actually finished in last place with a 3 wins and 9 losses record. So, what happened that year? I will see if I can come up with some answers here.
I have heard the old saying that football is a game of inches. An inch here, an inch there, and a couple of other inches, and pretty soon your team is in a lot of trouble. This, I believe, is the story of the 1955 Detroit Lions. To start with, QB Bobby Layne hurt his shoulder during the off season trying to restrain a bucking horse. Despite his bad arm, Layne had one of his best passing seasons as far as a 53 per cent completion rate, which led the league. The bad new is that his average yards per completion was 12.73 yards which was his lowest since 1949 when he played for a terrible New York Bulldogs team.
Still, Layne's numbers would not be so bad for many quarterbacks. There were other things that went wrong. Les Bingaman retired after the 1954 season. Les was the biggest player in pro football at the time, so coach Buddy Parker arranged a trade with the Redskins to acquire a player almost as big as Bingaman to play Les' middle guard position on defense. His name was Jim Ricca, who was listed at 6'4" and 270 lbs.
A couple of things went wrong with that trade. One is that Detroit sent crack linebacker Lavern Torgeson to Washington as part of the deal to get Ricca. The Lions had to miss Torgeson, at least a little bit because Lavern was very good. Also, Jim Ricca did not turn out to be the answer to replace Les Bingaman, at least not in Coach Parker's eyes because Buddy fired Ricca after Detroit's 6th straight loss on the plane ride home from San Francisco.
There were injuries. Defensive back Jack Christiansen, guards Dick Stanfel and Harley Sewell, and halfback Hunchy Hoernschemeyer missed some time and the two guards were replaced by rookies who, according to some, were not really NFL quality linemen. Jim Martin could and in earlier years did play guard, but was needed at linebacker to take the place of the departed Torgeson.
A couple of good ones retired the year before in Vince Banonis and John Prchlik (team captain), and Yale Lary, Ollie Spencer, and Gene Gedman had been drafted into the military, but the Detroit Lions still sailed through the season to win the Western Conference in 1954 for the third straight year.
Despite their troubles, I am sure that the 1955 Detroit Lions fully expected to once again end up playing in the NFL Championship game. I am sure that they never expected to lose their first 6 games that year, but they did. They won all but their first preseason game and started off the regular season against Green Bay, a team that they usually had to just show up to beat in those days. They lost that one by 3 points after leading 17 to 6 at one point.
One loss does not a season make, but they lost their second game to the Colts. When they lost their third one to the Rams, they probably knew that they had a big problem.
Hard to believe that a team that was so good could be so bad that one year. However, good things were to come for the 50's Detroit Lions.
I have heard the old saying that football is a game of inches. An inch here, an inch there, and a couple of other inches, and pretty soon your team is in a lot of trouble. This, I believe, is the story of the 1955 Detroit Lions. To start with, QB Bobby Layne hurt his shoulder during the off season trying to restrain a bucking horse. Despite his bad arm, Layne had one of his best passing seasons as far as a 53 per cent completion rate, which led the league. The bad new is that his average yards per completion was 12.73 yards which was his lowest since 1949 when he played for a terrible New York Bulldogs team.
Still, Layne's numbers would not be so bad for many quarterbacks. There were other things that went wrong. Les Bingaman retired after the 1954 season. Les was the biggest player in pro football at the time, so coach Buddy Parker arranged a trade with the Redskins to acquire a player almost as big as Bingaman to play Les' middle guard position on defense. His name was Jim Ricca, who was listed at 6'4" and 270 lbs.
A couple of things went wrong with that trade. One is that Detroit sent crack linebacker Lavern Torgeson to Washington as part of the deal to get Ricca. The Lions had to miss Torgeson, at least a little bit because Lavern was very good. Also, Jim Ricca did not turn out to be the answer to replace Les Bingaman, at least not in Coach Parker's eyes because Buddy fired Ricca after Detroit's 6th straight loss on the plane ride home from San Francisco.
There were injuries. Defensive back Jack Christiansen, guards Dick Stanfel and Harley Sewell, and halfback Hunchy Hoernschemeyer missed some time and the two guards were replaced by rookies who, according to some, were not really NFL quality linemen. Jim Martin could and in earlier years did play guard, but was needed at linebacker to take the place of the departed Torgeson.
A couple of good ones retired the year before in Vince Banonis and John Prchlik (team captain), and Yale Lary, Ollie Spencer, and Gene Gedman had been drafted into the military, but the Detroit Lions still sailed through the season to win the Western Conference in 1954 for the third straight year.
Despite their troubles, I am sure that the 1955 Detroit Lions fully expected to once again end up playing in the NFL Championship game. I am sure that they never expected to lose their first 6 games that year, but they did. They won all but their first preseason game and started off the regular season against Green Bay, a team that they usually had to just show up to beat in those days. They lost that one by 3 points after leading 17 to 6 at one point.
One loss does not a season make, but they lost their second game to the Colts. When they lost their third one to the Rams, they probably knew that they had a big problem.
Hard to believe that a team that was so good could be so bad that one year. However, good things were to come for the 50's Detroit Lions.
Re: Team of the '50s, Browns or Lions?
Saban wrote:The Cleveland Browns' and Detroit Lions' NFL championship runs during the 50's both lasted 6 years. 1950 through 1955 for the Browns and 1952 through 1957 for the Lions. For the Detroit Lions, there was one big hole in their run, which was in 1955 when Detroit actually finished in last place with a 3 wins and 9 losses record. So, what happened that year? I will see if I can come up with some answers here.
I have heard the old saying that football is a game of inches. An inch here, an inch there, and a couple of other inches, and pretty soon your team is in a lot of trouble. This, I believe, is the story of the 1955 Detroit Lions. To start with, QB Bobby Layne hurt his shoulder during the off season trying to restrain a bucking horse. Despite his bad arm, Layne had one of his best passing seasons as far as a 53 per cent completion rate, which led the league. The bad new is that his average yards per completion was 12.73 yards which was his lowest since 1949 when he played for a terrible New York Bulldogs team.
Still, Layne's numbers would not be so bad for many quarterbacks. There were other things that went wrong. Les Bingaman retired after the 1954 season. Les was the biggest player in pro football at the time, so coach Buddy Parker arranged a trade with the Redskins to acquire a player almost as big as Bingaman to play Les' middle guard position on defense. His name was Jim Ricca, who was listed at 6'4" and 270 lbs.
A couple of things went wrong with that trade. One is that Detroit sent crack linebacker Lavern Torgeson to Washington as part of the deal to get Ricca. The Lions had to miss Torgeson, at least a little bit because Lavern was very good. Also, Jim Ricca did not turn out to be the answer to replace Les Bingaman, at least not in Coach Parker's eyes because Buddy fired Ricca after Detroit's 6th straight loss on the plane ride home from San Francisco.
There were injuries. Defensive back Jack Christiansen, guards Dick Stanfel and Harley Sewell, and halfback Hunchy Hoernschemeyer missed some time and the two guards were replaced by rookies who, according to some, were not really NFL quality linemen. Jim Martin could and in earlier years did play guard, but was needed at linebacker to take the place of the departed Torgeson.
A couple of good ones retired the year before in Vince Banonis and John Prchlik (team captain), and Yale Lary, Ollie Spencer, and Gene Gedman had been drafted into the military, but the Detroit Lions still sailed through the season to win the Western Conference in 1954 for the third straight year.
Despite their troubles, I am sure that the 1955 Detroit Lions fully expected to once again end up playing in the NFL Championship game. I am sure that they never expected to lose their first 6 games that year, but they did. They won all but their first preseason game and started off the regular season against Green Bay, a team that they usually had to just show up to beat in those days. They lost that one by 3 points after leading 17 to 6 at one point.
One loss does not a season make, but they lost their second game to the Colts. When they lost their third one to the Rams, they probably knew that they had a big problem.
Hard to believe that a team that was so good could be so bad that one year. However, good things were to come for the 50's Detroit Lions.
In 1956, the Detroit Lions made one of the biggest turnarounds in football history, going from 3 wins and 9 losses and last place in 1955 to 9 wins and 3 losses in 1956, which was good for 2nd place in the Western Conference by half a game behind the Chicago Bears. Much of the credit for the turnaround should go to Buddy Parker and the Lions coaching staff. Just about every move that the Detroit Lions made that year worked out good for the Lions. A great job of juggling players around by Parker, who got a Coach of the Year award that year and deservedly so, IMO.
Here is what I believe are some of the reasons for the great improvement in 1956:
1. Detroit went from a 5-2-4 defense in 1955 to a 4-3-4 in 1956. Joe Schmidt became the middle linebacker and was one of the best, and this solved the problem of middle guard Les Bingaman's retirement. Detroit's defense was once again one of the best in football.
2. Leon Hart was moved to fullback, and 6'5" 260 lb. Leon did well averaging 4.6 yards per carry. Big Leon may also have helped the pass blocking, which was great in 1956.
3. The offensive line was better with Charlie Ane moved to center and Ollie Spencer, back from the military, took over at right tackle. Spencer had previously been a starter at that position. Lou Creekmur was back full time at left tackle, after spending much time playing on the defense during the last half of the 1955 season. Lions quarterbacks were only sacked about 7 times in 1956 and the running game was better with superior blocking. A fantastic job by the offensive line that year.
4. Yale Lary was back from the military in 1956 and took back his starting right safety position. Lary, along with Jack Christiansen, Jim David, and Carl Karilivacz made up probably the best defensive secondary in football. Lary was also a great punter.
5. Bobby Layne was throwing the ball better. It didn't hurt that he was getting well protected by Detroit's offensive line, giving him more time to throw, and also allowing him to throw more downfield, averaging over 14 yards per completion, compared to less than 13 yards per in 1955.
6. Detroit was running the ball more in 1956, and the running game was improved with the offensive line blocking better, The Lions played more of a ball control game that year, running over a hundred times more than the year before (507 rushes in 1956 compared to 400 rushes in 1955). Running the ball more often also took some heat off of the pass rush of opposing teams who had to respect Detroit's running game more.
7. Detroit had an easy schedule in 1956, only playing 2 games with a team with a winning record (the Chicago Bears). Ten games were with teams that did not have a winning record, and Detroit and Chicago were the only Western Conference teams that won more than half their games. Trouble is that Detroit lost to Green Bay and Washington, who did not have winning records.
8. Defensive tackle Ray Krouse was obtained in a trade strengthening the defensive line, and allowing 1955 rookie Darris McCord to move over to defensive end where he improved the Lions pass rush.
9. Detroit's backs Gene Gedman, Leon Hart, Hopalong Cassady. and Don McIlhenny ran well and did not fumble very often. This was important in Detroit's ball control style that year. Playing mostly losing teams, Buddy Parker apparently felt that Detroit did not have to take many risks to win most of their games, and it looks like he was right if that was why.
10. Detroit's receivers had good years with Dorne Dibble, who missed much of 1955 due to injuries, was back full time at left end and caught 32 passes for 597 yards. Jim Doran was moved to tight end and caught 25 passes for 448 yards, and 1955 rookie halfback Dave Middleton was moved to flanker and became Layne's chief target that year with 39 receptions for 606 yards. The backs would also get some passes (screens mostly) to give Detroit a nice variety of receivers to go to.
So, the Detroit Lions once again became a very formidable team in 1956 with a very tough defense, and a good running game and an effective passing game. The Lions were back. Trouble is, the Chicago Bears had their best season of the 1950's, and the Bears ended up beating the Lions in their last regular season game to beat out Detroit by half a game (9-2-1 to Detroit's 9-3 record). Bobby Layne was injured by an alleged cheap shot by Chicago's Ed Meadows early in the 2nd quarter and was out for the rest of the game. Many in Detroit felt that this cost Detroit the game, but many in Chicago did not agree. Final score was 38 to 21.
Re: Team of the '50s, Browns or Lions?
As for Cleveland, the 1957 Browns team was a much different team than the team from their championship era. Eleven rookies made the team that year, including some good ones like Vince Costello, Paul Wiggin, and Jim Brown. There was a rookie quarterback that year named Milt Plum, who was to become their starting QB for a few years.
As mentioned before, I don't consider the 1957 team to be part of their championship run of the Otto Graham era. The 1957 team was a revamped team that was a loser the year before. It was a great coaching job by Paul Brown and his staff, even though they got slaughtered in the championship, 59 to 14.
There was also a thing with the quarterbacks not being 100% during the championship game. Plum had popped a hamstring a few days before the game, causing the Browns to start a rusty Tommy O'Connell at quarterback. Tommy had not played in the last few games due to an ankle injury, and threw a pick 6 and another interception that led to 6 points for Detroit. Rookie Milt Campbell fumbled a kickoff which led to another easy TD for the Lions. Then there was the fake field goal by quarterback Tobin Rote when he threw a TD pass instead of holding for the field goal. All these things happened in the first half of that game.
It was certainly a nice win for Detroit and great revenge for the 56 to 10 shellacking that they took from Cleveland in the 1954 championship, but my point is that it was not during both teams so called dynasty years. It was the final year of Detroit's championship run, although even Detroit had a different quarterback in Tobin Rote instead of the injured Bobby Layne and a different head coach in George Wilson instead of Buddy Parker, who was now coaching the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Parker had quit the Lions early in training camp. Buddy later said that Detroit's Board of Directors were causing him to lose control of his team. An example is that , according to Parker, was that he was forced to draft Heisman Trophy winner Howard "Hopalong" Cassady in the first round of the 1956 draft instead of Joe Childress, who he coveted for his team. He had some problems with some members of the board, one of whom blamed Buddy for Detroit's end of the season loss to the Chicago Bears in 1956, saying that he was out coached by George Halas, who used a more Imaginative strategy for that game.
Detroit went on to win the NFL Championship in 1957, but it was the end of their championships for a long time.
As mentioned before, I don't consider the 1957 team to be part of their championship run of the Otto Graham era. The 1957 team was a revamped team that was a loser the year before. It was a great coaching job by Paul Brown and his staff, even though they got slaughtered in the championship, 59 to 14.
There was also a thing with the quarterbacks not being 100% during the championship game. Plum had popped a hamstring a few days before the game, causing the Browns to start a rusty Tommy O'Connell at quarterback. Tommy had not played in the last few games due to an ankle injury, and threw a pick 6 and another interception that led to 6 points for Detroit. Rookie Milt Campbell fumbled a kickoff which led to another easy TD for the Lions. Then there was the fake field goal by quarterback Tobin Rote when he threw a TD pass instead of holding for the field goal. All these things happened in the first half of that game.
It was certainly a nice win for Detroit and great revenge for the 56 to 10 shellacking that they took from Cleveland in the 1954 championship, but my point is that it was not during both teams so called dynasty years. It was the final year of Detroit's championship run, although even Detroit had a different quarterback in Tobin Rote instead of the injured Bobby Layne and a different head coach in George Wilson instead of Buddy Parker, who was now coaching the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Parker had quit the Lions early in training camp. Buddy later said that Detroit's Board of Directors were causing him to lose control of his team. An example is that , according to Parker, was that he was forced to draft Heisman Trophy winner Howard "Hopalong" Cassady in the first round of the 1956 draft instead of Joe Childress, who he coveted for his team. He had some problems with some members of the board, one of whom blamed Buddy for Detroit's end of the season loss to the Chicago Bears in 1956, saying that he was out coached by George Halas, who used a more Imaginative strategy for that game.
Detroit went on to win the NFL Championship in 1957, but it was the end of their championships for a long time.