Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

According to Yours Truly, a 19th one will be official come this very January!

But for now, here are the current eighteen (in chrono) to shuffle up...(forgive/correct any inaccuracies)...

1932 (of course as 'Portsmouth Spartans'): 6-1-4, lost NFL championship playoff at Bears

1935: 7-3-2, won NFL Championship Game vs G-men

1952: 9-3, won NFL Championship Game at Browns

1953: 10-2, won NFL Championship Game vs Browns

1954: 9-2-1, lost NFL Championship Game at Browns

1957: 8-4, won NFL Championship Game vs Browns

1970: 10-4 wild card, lost Divisional Round at Dallas

1982: 4-5 NFL tournament 8th-seed. lost 1st-Rd at Washington

1983: 9-7 NFC Central champs, lost Divisional Round at San Francisco

1991: 12-4 NFC Central champs, beat Dallas in Divisional Round, lose NFC Championship Game at Washington

1993: 10-6 NFC Central champs, lose 1st-Rd vs Green Bay

1994: 9-7 wild card, lose 1st-Rd at Green Bay

1995: 10-6 wild card, lose 1st-Rd at Philadelphia

1997: 9-7 wild card, lose 1st-Rd at Tampa Bay

1999: 8-8 wild card, lose 1st-Rd at Washington

2011: 10-6 wild card, lose 1st-Rd at Saints

2014: 11-5 wild card, lose 1st-Rd at Dallas

2016: 9-7 wild card, lose 1st-Rd at Seattle



Here are mine...

1 - 1952
2 - 1953

Yes, the former was 9-3 as opposed to 10-2 the following year. But hat-tricking the Rams as opposed to getting swept by them in '53 does it for me in deciding who's best of the two. Also, '52 Lions sweep Browns too!

3 - 1954
4 - 1957
5 - 1935
6 - 1970
7 - 1991 - idiosyncrasies with this team as already discussed abroad, but 12-4 and blasting up-and-coming Cowboys thus making it to the CC is still 12-4 and blasting up-and-coming Cowboys thus making it to the CC! Still the best Fontes installment IMO.
8 - 2014
9 - 1995
10 - 1932, not much better than mediocre, actually; won 6 of 11 going into that Chicago 'dome'!
11 - 1993
12 - 1997
13 - 1994
14 - 1983
15 - 2011
16 - 2016
17 - 1999
18 - 1982

Just three divisional round appearances in the Super Bowl era, none in the last 30 years. Wow. Just wow.

Their 1934 team was probably better than all of them except the ones that won the championship -- and maybe better than the 1935 team, too.

1. 1970
2. 1954
3. 1952
4. 1935
5. 1995
6. 2011
7. 1932
8. 1997
9. 1953
10. 1994
11. 1983
12. 2014
13. 1957
14. 1999
15. 1982
16. 1991
17. 1993
18. 2016

I guess I am curious to investigate the history of this franchise a bit more.

For this length of time, the blame has to go to the ownership group of the Ford family. They don't even get credit for the 1950s, since they didn't own the team then. At this point, even dismal franchises like the Bengals and Cardinals have clearly outperformed the Lions. 60 years of this?!?

What's the deal? Does someone know the reason? The Bengals and Cardinals are owned by NFL lifers, some small pockets maybe, but the Lions don't even have that excuse. What's one daring move, name one, that has happened with this ownership group? Even the Tobin Rote trade was with the prior group. The Fords just seem content to go through a lifetime with a C- or D+. Utterly baffling.

Jay Z wrote:I guess I am curious to investigate the history of this franchise a bit more.

For this length of time, the blame has to go to the ownership group of the Ford family. They don't even get credit for the 1950s, since they didn't own the team then. At this point, even dismal franchises like the Bengals and Cardinals have clearly outperformed the Lions. 60 years of this?!?

What's the deal? Does someone know the reason? The Bengals and Cardinals are owned by NFL lifers, some small pockets maybe, but the Lions don't even have that excuse. What's one daring move, name one, that has happened with this ownership group? Even the Tobin Rote trade was with the prior group. The Fords just seem content to go through a lifetime with a C- or D+. Utterly baffling.

If you look at the history, it seems that they've tried every thing. Maybe it's just plain bad luck.

This article sums it up pretty well:

https://www.audacy.com/971theticket/spo ... ons-owners

As RichardBak has pointed out, the Lions general management of the team from the early 60s, especially after the Ford family purchase, was bad as the team lost a lot of drafted talent to the AFL.
They could have promoted Don Shula to HC but let him slip to Baltimore. They gambled and lost with Milt Plum as QB, though the defense shined. Landry wasnt the answer at QB later ...

An uncle who lived in the Detroit area used to rail against the Lion management during the 1970s, Russ Thomas in particular. He said, "As long as they get a full stadium every week they don't care about building a championship team." He also said, "The only thing that would make them change is a lot of empty seats."

1934, of course, is better than ’35!

11-3 installment of ’62 (who almost swept the Mighty 13-1 Pack)? Perhaps they and ’34 each better than any of the actual League Champions!

74_75_78_79_ wrote:1934, of course, is better than ’35!

11-3 installment of ’62 (who almost swept the Mighty 13-1 Pack)? Perhaps they and ’34 each better than any of the actual League Champions!

Oh, right. I forgot about that 1962 team. At the very least, those two teams (including 1934) were the best Detroit teams that didn't win the title.