Are the Detroit Lions really cursed?

The Detroit Lions have long played like a cursed franchise, but are they really? When can fans put the Bobby Layne ‘curse’ to rest forever?

It’s been over 60 years since the Detroit Lions have been champions of the NFL. That’s right, 60 years.

Since the Lions destroyed the Cleveland Browns by a final score of 59-14 on December 28th 1957 to win their third title of the 1950’s and secure themselves as the team of that decade, they haven’t accomplished a whole lot outside of mismanaging this team and finding new ways to lose games.

Oh yes, and also making their fans miserable.

Plain and simple, the majority of Lions fans have never seen anything close to their success of the 1950’s. Those who did are either no longer with us or may choose not to put on their bifocals to watch what passes as Lions football these days.

So where did this franchise go wrong? How did they plummet to such lowly depths?

If you subscribe to your Lions history, it began when Detroit decided to trade away the best quarterback in franchise history, Bobby Layne, to the Pittsburgh Steelers. As the tale goes, Layne proclaimed that the Lions wouldn’t win another title for 50 years as he packed up for Pittsburgh.

Apparently he didn’t realize the power of his words considering that we’re a decade beyond the curses’ supposed end and still going strong.

So the question plain and simple is; are the Lions really cursed?

While some fans are quick to say ‘yes’, I take the other approach. This team isn’t cursed, but they have found many ways to look like it.

The Chicago Cubs were sort of like the Major League Baseball equivalent to the Lions except their ‘curse’ lasted 108 years and they were considered the ‘lovable losers’ before they broke the ‘curse’ by beating the Cleveland Indians in the 2016 World Series.

No one has ever considered the Lions to be lovable over the last 60 years. Including Lions fans.

The truth of the matter is that this franchise has developed the ‘cursed’ or ‘loser’ culture on their own. Whether it be poor coaching or personnel decisions or a prevailing attitude in the locker room where players would expect the worst to happen, this has been a home grown problem.

In other words, Bobby Layne isn’t to be blamed.

Since the beginning of the Super Bowl era, the teams that have been good enough to win it all have generally had three traits in common; They have had a franchise quarterback, a good to great defense and an innovative, premiere head coach that ensures the other two pieces of the puzzle are in place and put in the best position to be successful.

These have been issues for the Lions.