The Curse of Bobby Layne
In 1958, the Lions traded Layne to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Layne responded to the trade by supposedly saying that the Lions would "not win for 50 years".[3] This story has been disputed as being a hoax, particularly because the quote was never published at the time.[4]
Still, for the next 50 years after the trade, the Lions accumulated the worst winning percentage of any team in the NFL. They are still one of only two franchises that have been in the NFL since 1970 that have not played in a Super Bowl (the other team is the Cleveland Browns). The Lions only made the playoffs nine times in those last 50 seasons, have one post-season win (1991), and three Division titles (1983, 1991, and 1993). The 1st time the Detroit Lions returned to the playoffs after the Layne era was in 1970. This ended a 13-year drought, but the team lost to the Dallas Cowboys, 5-0, in what is still the lowest scoring playoff game of all time. The 2008 season, the supposed final year of the curse, saw Detroit finish with a winless 0-16 record, the worst in NFL history.
Coincidentally, in the 2009 NFL Draft, right after the curse supposedly expired, the Detroit Lions drafted University of Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford first-overall. He came from Highland Park High School, the same high school as Layne. Stafford also lived in a house on the same street as Layne's.[5]
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