The history of the Detroit Lions, a professional American football franchise based in Detroit, dates back to 1928 when they played in Portsmouth, Ohio as the Spartans. They joined the National Football League (NFL) in 1930 before they were bought by George A. Richards, a radio executive, and moved to Detroit and changed their name to the Lions in 1934 and won their first NFL Championship the following season. The Lions had their most success in the 1950s, winning the NFL Championship three times, in 1952, 1953, and 1957, and made several playoff appearances in the 1990s. In 2025, they played their 96th season, continuing to be one of the NFL's oldest franchises.
Portsmouth Spartans (1928–1933)
The Lions franchise was originally based in Portsmouth, Ohio as the Spartans. Originally an independent team, they joined the National Football League in 1930, after which they compiled a 28–16–7 record by the end of the 1933 season, including a berth in the first-ever game with the league title at stake in 1932. However, while they were successful on the field, they lived a hand-to-mouth existence off of it. At one point, players were given stock in the team in lieu of their salaries. By this time, it was apparent that mid-size cities like Portsmouth could no longer support an NFL team.
Move to Detroit and early success (1934–1938)
In 1934, George A. Richards, a radio executive who owned WJR, a radio affiliate of the NBC Blue Network (the forerunner to today's ABC), purchased the Portsmouth Spartans for $8,000 and moved the team to Detroit, renaming them the Detroit Lions. Richards picked the name because he intended to put together a team that would be the "king of the NFL," much like the lion was the king of the jungle. He also wanted a tie-in to baseball's Detroit Tigers.
In their inaugural season in Detroit several months later, the Lions started off with a 10-game win streak that included seven shutouts. However, they lost the last three games of the season to the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears and finished in second place behind the Bears in the Western Division, once again coming up short to their rivals. That same year, Richards negotiated an agreement with NBC to carry his Thanksgiving games live across all of the network's affiliated stations. Since then, the Lions have played on Thanksgiving every season with the exception of the years during World War II. In 1935, Dutch Clark led the NFL with 55 points, while Ernie Caddel led the league with 621 yards as they carried the Lions to a 7–3–2 record, which was first in the Western Division. As a result, they advanced to the 1935 NFL Championship Game against the New York Giants. The game was played on December 15, 1935, in front of 15,000 fans in Detroit. The Lions won the game 26–7 to secure the franchise's first World Championship, contributing to Detroit's City of Champions for the 1935–36 sports season, during which the Detroit Tigers won the 1935 World Series and the Detroit Red Wings captured the 1936 Stanley Cup.
After the season ended, the Lions played a team of NFL All-Stars in an exhibition game on January 1, 1936, winning 33–0. They played four additional exhibition games: a 67–14 win over the Westwood Cubs on January 13, a 42–7 win over the Los Angeles All-Stars on January 20, a 10–3 victory over the Green Bay Packers on January 26, and a 30–6 victory over the Hawaii All-Stars on February 9. Over the next two years, the Lions had records of 8–4 and 7–4 but finished third in the Western Division both years, again behind the Bears and Packers. After falling one game short of the Packers in 1938, both Dutch Clark and Ernie Caddel decided to retire.
Struggling (1939–1949) In 1939, the Lions' first year without their superstar players, they managed a disappointing record of 6–5. This season would set the tone for the next decade. Before the 1940 season, Richards, then living in Beverly Hills and in poor health, sold the team to Fred L. Mandel Jr., a 31-year-old member of the family that owned the Mandel Brothers Department Store of Chicago.
The 1940s saw the Lions win only 35 games. The low point was when they went 0–11 in 1942, scoring only five touchdowns all season, getting shut out five times, and never scoring more than seven points in a single game. With the first overall pick in the 1943 NFL draft, the Lions drafted Frank Sinkwich from Georgia. The Lions finished the 1943 season with a 3–6–1 record. A notable occurrence during the season happened on November 7 when the Lions and the New York Giants played to a scoreless tie. , this was the last time an NFL game has ended in a scoreless tie. In 1944, Sinkwich won the NFL Most Valuable Player award after leading the Lions from a 1–3–1 start to a 6–3–1 finish. It was the team's first winning record since 1939.
Detroit improved on that record in 1945, finishing 7–3. They were second in the Western Division behind the Cleveland Rams. The Lions were less successful in the latter half of the decade; in 1946, they only managed one win all year, while in 1947, they won only three games. With the sixth overall pick in the 1948 NFL draft, the Lions drafted quarterback Y. A. Tittle. However, he never signed with the team, instead joining the Baltimore Colts of the All-America Football Conference.
On January 15, 1948, the NFL owners unanimously approved the sale of the Lions from Fred J. Mandel to the Detroit Football Company, a seven-person syndicate led by D. Lyle Fife. The Lions won only two games that year, but they kept building up their roster by trading quarterback Johnny Rauch's draft rights to the New York Bulldogs in exchange for the draft rights to Doak Walker. In 1949, the Lions improved to 4–8, missing the playoffs for a fourteenth consecutive season. That December, team president D. Lyle Fife resigned for "personal reasons" and was succeeded by Edwin J. Anderson.
Team of the 1950s (1950–1958)
At the start of the 1950s, the Lions had a roster to compete for championships, but were still in need of a franchise quarterback. To solve this, they traded fullback Camp Wilson to the New York Yanks in exchange for quarterback Bobby Layne. After finishing a disappointing 6–6 in 1950, head coach Bo McMillin resigned. He was replaced by Buddy Parker, who had previously played for the Lions in the mid-1930s, including being a part of the 1935 championship team. The following season saw the Lions improve with a 7–4–1 record. In 1952, the Lions finished with a 9–3 record, tied with the Los Angeles Rams for first in the NFL's National Conference. Thus, for the first time in 17 years, the team returned to the playoffs.
In the National Conference Playoff, the Lions defeated the Rams 31–21 in front of nearly 50,000 spectators at Briggs Stadium in Detroit, playing in fog. The win sent the Lions back to the NFL Championship Game against the Cleveland Browns, which was the first of four championship games the two teams would play against each other during the decade. The Lions defeated the Browns by a score of 17–7 to win the second title in franchise history. The next year saw the Lions enjoy one of the greatest seasons in franchise history. They would draft future Hall of Fame linebacker Joe Schmidt in the seventh round of the 1953 NFL draft. The Lions went 10–2, which was good for first place in the renamed Western Conference. In addition, the team had seven Pro Bowlers, eight All-Pros, and swept their division rivals Chicago and Green Bay in four consecutive weeks. The Lions faced the Browns in the 1953 NFL Championship Game, in which Layne found Jim Doran for a 33-yard game-winning touchdown in the final minutes to win 17–16. In 1954, the Lions would finish with a 9–2–1 record. They faced the Browns in the NFL Championship Game for a third consecutive season. This time, however, the Browns destroyed the Lions 56–10, ruining their shot at a three-peat.
Despite the Lions' success early in the decade, the mid-1950s looked like a falling off point for the team. The Lions won only three games in 1955. In the following season, the team finished in second place to the Chicago Bears with a 9–3 record. During the 1957 preseason, Buddy Parker stunned the football world by announcing his resignation from the organization. George Wilson took over as head coach. Despite the turmoil, the Lions finished 8–4, tied with the San Francisco 49ers for first in the Western Conference. As a result, the two teams faced each other in a playoff game in San Francisco. During the game, the 49ers took a 24–7 lead into halftime behind three touchdown passes from Y. A. Tittle. During halftime, the 49ers, who assumed they had the game locked up, celebrated in their locker room. Because the walls in Kezar Stadium were so thin and the locker rooms were right next to each other, the Lions heard it.
George Wilson stood up and said, "I was going to say something, but that's what they think of you". On the first play of the second half, 49ers running back Hugh McElhenny broke off a 71-yard run to the Detroit 9 yard line, but the Lions held the 49ers to a field goal, which was San Francisco's last points of the day. Bobby Layne had been lost to injury three weeks prior, but Lions backup quarterback Tobin Rote led the team to 24 unanswered points and a 31–27 come from behind win. The next week, in the NFL Championship Game, Rote threw for four touchdowns and ran in another as the Lions routed the Browns 59–14, claiming their third championship in six years. To date, this is the last championship they have won.
In 1958, the Lions traded Bobby Layne to the Pittsburgh Steelers in exchange for Earl Morrall and two future draft picks. According to legend, as he was leaving for Pittsburgh, Layne said that the Lions would not win another championship for 50 years. Since this time, the Lions have not won another championship and the franchise's subsequent years of (mostly) futility has been labeled "The Curse of Bobby Layne." Without Layne, the Lions finished with a 4–7–1 record.
Adjusting to life without Bobby Layne and committing to defense (1959–1969)
A 3–8–1 season in 1959 meant the Lions closed out their most successful decade in disappointing fashion. Going into the 1960s, the Lions decided to go with a new rebuild, this time centered around defense. The team started by trading defensive end Gerry Perry to the St. Louis Cardinals for cornerback Dick "Night Train" Lane. Joe Schmidt later called it "one of the best trades that will ever be made in any sport". Lane made three Pro Bowls and four All Pro selections as a Lion. Detroit also drafted star defensive tackle Roger Brown to pair with Alex Karras, Sam Williams and Darris McCord, forming one of the most fierce defensive lines in pro football history.
The Lions also still had '50s stars Joe Schmidt and Yale Lary as well as cornerback Dick LeBeau, who the team signed in 1959. Despite a 0–3 start in 1960, the Lions put together a 7–2 record to end the year at 7–5 overall. The Lions finished second in the Western Conference and earned a trip to the Playoff Bowl against their rivals the Cleveland Browns, who finished second in the Eastern Conference. The game was played on January 7, 1961, at the Miami Orange Bowl in Miami, and was the fifth (and to date last) playoff game between the teams. The Lions defeated the Browns 17–16.