Detroit Lions | History & Notable Players (2024)

Detroit Lions, American professional football team based in Detroit. The Lions play in the National Football Conference (NFC) of the National Football League (NFL) and have won four NFL championships (1935, 1952, 1953, and 1957). However, the team has never played in a Super Bowl.

(Read Walter Camp’s 1903 Britannica essay on inventing American football.)

The championship years

The franchise was founded in 1930 and was based in Portsmouth, Ohio. Known as the Spartans, the team was one of two (with the Green Bay Packers) small-town members of the early NFL. The Spartans were moderately successful and played in the first playoff game in league history—a 9–0 loss to the Chicago Bears at the end of the 1932 season. In 1934 the franchise was sold and relocated to Detroit, where it took on the name “Lions” to complement baseball’s Detroit Tigers. In the Lions’ first season in Detroit, team ownership instituted a long-standing tradition when they scheduled a game on Thanksgiving Day, which has featured a Lions’ home game every year since (except during World War II). In 1935 the Lions won their first NFL championship, behind the play of single-wing tailback Earl (“Dutch”) Clark.

The Lions struggled throughout most of the 1940s, with only two winning seasons in the decade. The team’s most notable player of this period was running back (and future U.S. Supreme Court justice) Byron R. (“Whizzer”) White, who played in Detroit from 1940 to 1941. Before the 1950 season Detroit added quarterback Bobby Layne and running back Doak Walker—two future Hall of Famers—and the Lions became one of the better teams in the league by the following year. Detroit beat the Cleveland Browns in the NFL championship game in both 1952 and 1953, and the two teams faced off again in the 1954 championship, in which the Browns defeated the Lions. The Lions played the Browns for the NFL title a fourth time, in 1957, with Detroit handily beating Cleveland by 45 points to win its third championship in a six-year span.

From Alex Karras to Barry Sanders

The 1960s brought less success, as the team finished second in its division to the Green Bay Packers from 1960 to 1962 and missed the playoffs throughout the decade, despite a ferocious defense that featured defensive back Dick (“Night Train”) Lane, tackle Alex Karras, and linebackers Joe Schmidt and Wayne Walker. The Lions from this period are perhaps best remembered for writer George Plimpton’s short tenure with the team as the “last-string” quarterback during the 1963 preseason, an experience recounted in his book Paper Lion (1966) and later in a movie of the same name. Detroit qualified for only one playoff appearance in the 24 years between 1958 and 1981, though the team was often far from terrible, usually finishing their seasons with winning percentages around .500 during this prolonged period of mediocrity.

In the early 1980s the Lions advanced to the postseason on two occasions, including a first-round loss to the Washington Redskins after posting only a 4–5 record in the strike-shortened 1982 season. Their 1983 playoff berth also ended with a loss in their first game, and the Lions dropped to the bottom of the divisional standings by the mid-1980s.

In 1989 the Lions drafted running back Barry Sanders, who would go on to earn Pro Bowl honors in each of his 10 seasons in the league, reinvigorating the franchise. The Lions lost to the Redskins in the 1991 NFC championship game, and they made it to the playoffs four additional times between 1992 and 1997. However, the Lions never advanced past their first postseason game in those seasons. After the 1999 season Sanders, who was 31 years old, unexpectedly retired.

Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson

In 2001 the team hired former NFL linebacker Matt Millen to serve as general manager, despite the fact that he had no previous front-office experience. Millen oversaw one of the most disastrous stretches for an NFL franchise of all time, as the Lions had a cumulative record of 31–84 during his tenure, and he was met with a number of fan protests over his continued employment. He was fired early in the 2008 season, which saw the Lions post the first 0–16 season in league history.

With the first overall pick of the 2009 NFL draft, Detroit drafted quarterback Matt Stafford, who became the hub of a potent passing attack that also featured All-Pro wide receiver Calvin Johnson. In 2011 the Lions qualified for their first playoff appearance in 12 years. The team followed that achievement with two consecutive losing seasons that led to another coaching change and attempt to rebuild. The team responded to the new leadership by winning 11 games in 2014 to return to the playoffs, where Detroit lost its opening game. After missing the playoffs in 2015, Detroit bounced back the following year to capture a postseason berth, which resulted in another loss in the team’s opening game. The Lions then entered into a postseason-free stretch, which included a 3–12–1 record in 2019.

The Dan Campbell era

After finishing the 2020 season with a record of 5–11, the Detroit Lions hired a new head coach, Dan Campbell. At his first press conference, he stressed intensity and toughness in what became known as his “kneecap” speech. He notably said:

This team is going to take on the identity of this city. And this city has been down, but it found a way to get up. It’s found a way to overcome adversity. This team is going to be built on, we’re going to kick you in the teeth, all right? And when you punch us back, we’re going to smile at you. And when you knock us down, we’re going to get up, and on the way up, we’re going to bite a kneecap off…Before long, we’re going to be the last one standing. That’s going to be the mentality.

Other moves in the offseason included trading Stafford to the Los Angeles Rams. As part of the deal, the Lions received quarterback Jared Goff. Although Detroit had a dismal 2021 season, it posted a winning record (9–8) in 2022, backed by the strong play of Goff, receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, and defensive end Aidan Hutchinson. The Lions then had a breakout year in 2023. The team finished the regular season with a 12–5 record and qualified for the playoffs. In the wild card round Detroit faced Stafford and the Rams, and the Lions won their first playoff game in 32 years. Detroit then defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the divisional round to advance to the conference finals, where the team lost to the San Francisco 49ers.