The Ford Family and the NFL's Detroit Lions

1957 was the last year that football's Detroit Lions had won a NFL championship (Note that this was pre-Super Bowl). That's 48 years without a championship. It was also the same year that Ford Motors launched the Edsel.

For 41 of those 48 years, the team was solely owned by William Clay Ford Sr., the son of Edsel Ford. In all fairness to Mr. Ford, the team's star quarterback Bobby Layne, one of football's greats, wasn't traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers on his watch. But then again, for the 41 Ford years, the Lions have only won one playoff game and there have been eleven head coaches, none ever going to another NFL team after their Detroit experience.

In 2005, team leadership was unofficially passed down from William Clay Sr. to son William Clay Jr. He's currently taking fan heat for extending the contract of very unpopular general manager Matt Millen.

"The Curse of Bobby Layne"

Many fans, however, have blamed the Lions' long streak of bad luck on the so-called "Curse of Bobby Lane."

In the fifties, the Detroit Lions were at the top of their game. Texan-born quarterback Bobby Layne led them to many of their victories. During his reign, the pre-Super Bowl Lions took NFL national championships in 1952, 1953, and 1957. From 1952 through 1954, they held three straight division titles.

The beginning of the "Curse" occurred when then-Lions head coach Buddy Parker was about to leave Detroit for a job with the Pittsburgh Steelers. During this time, Parker helped arrange for Layne to be traded to the Steelers in mid-season 1957. This stirred a mighty uproar with Detroit fans.

Subsequent Humiliations

In 1966, the fans had become so irate at the team's downward slide, that they pelted head coach Harry Gilmer with snowballs at the last game of the season.

In 1999, Wayne Fontes lost his damages lawsuit against the Lions management after he became one of a long line of fired head coaches.

From 2001 to 2003, the Lions went three full seasons without winning an on-the-road game.

(See "The Curse of Bobby Lane" website for more info)

In all fairness, however, the Barry Sanders-led Lions won divisional titles in 1991 and 1993. The Hall of Famer and all-time rushing leader retired in 1998, however, never took his team to the Super Bowl.

William Clay Ford Jr. and Matt Millen

In 2001, William Clay Jr. hired popular Fox sports announcer Matt Millen to be President of the Detroit Lions organization. Although Millen had been a star football linebacker for the Raiders, the 49ers, and the Redskins, he had no prior team management experience.

From 2001 to 2006, under Millen's watch, the Lions achieved the worst winning percentage of any football franchise in NFL history over a comparable period of time. This dubious achievement has created a wave of animosity among team fans. In 2005, when Fords Sr. and Jr. extended Matt Millen's contract for another five years, the "Fire Millen" fan protests began and persist to this day.

SOURCES:

http://www.detroitlions.com/bio.cfm?bio_id=117§ion_id=15&top=21&level=2&season=0

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2264484

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2005/30/300486.html

"Even Lombardi couldn't win in Detroit", Bob Cook, MSNBC, URL: (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10242750)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Millen

"Step down, Matt Millen", Dan Wetzel, Yahoo Sports, URL: (http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=dw-millen112805&prov=yhoo&type=lgns)

"Bobby Layne and the Lions' glory days", Patricia Zacharias, Detroit News, URL: (http://info.detnews.com/history/story/index.cfm?id=86&category=sports)