A Tale of Woe and Misery

[SAllen2556]

William Clay Ford was approved as new Detroit Lions on owner on 11-22-63 - a rather ominous beginning, eh?

Since 1963 - that’s 58 years and counting - the Detroit Lions have won 2 division titles, and one of them was with a record of 9-7. They have 15 last place finishes. They have won one playoff game. Their record in these 58 years is 347-488, a .416 winning percentage. They have won 10 or more games only 6 times in those 58 years, while losing 10 or more games 21 times. I believe there has never been a fired Lions head coach who has ever been re-hired by another team as their head coach. They once made a tv analyst the general manager. A head coach once publicly asked the press, “What does it take to get fired around here?”

Their two best players since the Fords took over are probably Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson, both of whom have or are estranged from the team.

Beginning in 2002, the Lions picked in the top 10 for 5 consecutive years and selected the following players: QB Joey Harrington (#3), WR Charles Rogers (#2), WR Roy Williams (#7), WR Mike Williams (#10) and OLB Ernie Sims (#9). All 5 players were busts.

There is a new Ford this year - Sheila. She played college tennis, so she understands what it takes to run a pro football team. An article earlier this season claimed the Lions were the best 0-6 team in history!

If your last name was Ford, how could you not be ashamed of owning this team? The Lions are the “Edsel” of the NFL, but instead of admitting defeat and shutting it down, they continue to create this lemon year after year after year. If the Lions were a car, Ralph Nader would have sued them into bankruptcy!

The utter arrogance it must require for this family to continue owning this franchise is just stunning to me.

I ask you all, please write your congressman and demand that the Ford family be removed as owners of the Detroit Lions. This madness must end now!

[Mark17]

You have to look at the bright side. For those of us who live in Minnesota, Chicago, or Wisconsin, it's kind of nice to have those two extra bye weeks on the schedule every year.....

[nolemmings]

It will be interesting to watch the Lions in the next 2-4 years, at least from the perspective of a non-Lions fan. Two first rounders each of the next two years should help. They were not going to win with Stafford anyway, so the haul they received from LA was a feather in somebody's cap over there.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Demand they be removed???

[Huysmans]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

Demand they be removed???

It's 2021 after all.... if someone does not like things, how dare society and everyone in it not instantly change.
The world should completely cater to the individual and not the masses lol

[SAllen2556]

Originally Posted by Mark17

You have to look at the bright side. For those of us who live in Minnesota, Chicago, or Wisconsin, it's kind of nice to have those two extra bye weeks on the schedule every year.....

Actually, practically everyone north of the Macinac bridge is already a Packers fan. Land-wise, even half of the state of Michigan doesn't support the Lions!

There are 2 teams from pre-Super Bowl days that have never played in a Super Bowl®. The Browns have been to 5 AFC championship games but no Super Bowls®. The Lions have only been to one NFC championship game, which they lost in a squeaker to Washington 41-10.

Before the Super Bowl era, the Lions were actually quite successful. In their first 28 years of existence, they made it to 5 championship games, winning 4 of them. The last championship came in 1957. The Fords took over in 1963.

It is widely assumed that both Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson retired early because the Lions sucked and were going to suck in the future. Sad.

I ask again, please call or write your congressman. Cater to my wishes!!!! The Fords must be forced to sell this team or, at this point, I'd settle for them moving the team to Canada and joining the CFL. They could be the British Columbia Lions. That would be cool.

[buymycards]

Originally Posted by SAllen2556

Actually, practically everyone north of the Macinac bridge is already a Packers fan. Land-wise, even half of the state of Michigan doesn't support the Lions!

There are 2 teams from pre-Super Bowl days that have never played in a Super Bowl®. The Browns have been to 5 AFC championship games but no Super Bowls®. The Lions have only been to one NFC championship game, which they lost in a squeaker to Washington 41-10.

Before the Super Bowl era, the Lions were actually quite successful. In their first 28 years of existence, they made it to 5 championship games, winning 4 of them. The last championship came in 1957. The Fords took over in 1963.

It is widely assumed that both Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson retired early because the Lions sucked and were going to suck in the future. Sad.

I ask again, please call or write your congressman. Cater to my wishes!!!! The Fords must be forced to sell this team or, at this point, I'd settle for them moving the team to Canada and joining the CFL. They could be the British Columbia Lions. That would be cool.

Scott, look at the bright side. You could be living in Illinois where they don't have a professional football team.

Cheers! Rick from Wisconsin

[SAllen2556]

Lions lose, and the killer was when left guard Jonah Jackson got a penalty for insulting a player's mother! Only the Lions!

Now we have to deal with the yearly nationally televised embarrassment of hosting the Thanksgiving Day game. Yes, the Lions started the tradition in 1934, but every year it's the same thing: can the Lions upset the (insert professional football team here).

End this madness. Write your congressman and insist the Ford family be forced to sell this team! Let's not ruin another Thanksgiving afternoon!

[Mark17]

Originally Posted by SAllen2556

Lions lose, and the killer was when left guard Jonah Jackson got a penalty for insulting a player's mother! Only the Lions!

Now we have to deal with the yearly nationally televised embarrassment of hosting the Thanksgiving Day game. Yes, the Lions started the tradition in 1934, but every year it's the same thing: can the Lions upset the (insert professional football team here).

End this madness. Write your congressman and insist the Ford family be forced to sell this team! Let's not ruin another Thanksgiving afternoon!

Your plight makes me think of the poor souls who went to Harlem Globetrotter games and rooted for the Washington Generals.

[egri]

Originally Posted by SAllen2556

Now we have to deal with the yearly nationally televised embarrassment of hosting the Thanksgiving Day game. Yes, the Lions started the tradition in 1934, but every year it's the same thing: can the Lions upset the (insert professional football team here).

End this madness. Write your congressman and insist the Ford family be forced to sell this team! Let's not ruin another Thanksgiving afternoon!

A few years ago, I read a thread on Reddit asking everyone what the trashiest thing was that they had seen their family do on Thanksgiving, and one guy wrote that his dad had gotten so mad at how badly the Lions were playing that he grabbed his shotgun and shot the TV.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by SAllen2556

Lions lose, and the killer was when left guard Jonah Jackson got a penalty for insulting a player's mother! Only the Lions!

Now we have to deal with the yearly nationally televised embarrassment of hosting the Thanksgiving Day game. Yes, the Lions started the tradition in 1934, but every year it's the same thing: can the Lions upset the (insert professional football team here).

End this madness. Write your congressman and insist the Ford family be forced to sell this team! Let's not ruin another Thanksgiving afternoon!

Please forgive me for piling on... but why was Tim Boyle your backup QB last game? I remember him being perhaps the worst QB in UCONN Football history (and UCONN has had LOTS of bad QB's).

I scratch my head how he even has a job in the NFL (at least on the field). Is he like "Dr. Death", where he's able to just talk himself into a job wherever he goes, whether he's qualified or not? That's some next level stuff.

I also remember for several years, they had UCONN's best QB in history in Dan Orlovsky. Let me repeat that.......Dan Orlovsky was by far, the best QB in UCONN Football history. Outside of being an ESPN talking head, he's best known for this play:

https://youtu.be/J0OkR986LL4

Is Detroit under the impression that UCONN is somehow an NFL QB mill?

[SAllen2556]

Originally Posted by D. Bergin

Please forgive me for piling on... but why was Tim Boyle your backup QB last game? I remember him being perhaps the worst QB in UCONN Football history (and UCONN has had LOTS of bad QB's).

I scratch my head how he even has a job in the NFL (at least on the field). Is he like "Dr. Death", where he's able to just talk himself into a job wherever he goes, whether he's qualified or not? That's some next level stuff.

I also remember for several years, they had UCONN's best QB in history in Dan Orlovsky. Let me repeat that.......Dan Orlovsky was by far, the best QB in UCONN Football history. Outside of being an ESPN talking head, he's best known for this play:

https://youtu.be/J0OkR986LL4

Is Detroit under the impression that UCONN is somehow an NFL QB mill?

Since 1963, the Lions have had one quarterback named first team all-pro: Greg Landry in 1971. So to assume the Lions think that UCONN is some type of QB mill........sure, why not!

Here's some other first round quarterback draft picks of the mighty Lions since the Ford family has owned the team:

Joey Harrington #3 overall
Andre Ware #7 overall
Chuck Long #12 overall

Just remember tomorrow during Thanksgiving when you're forced to have to interact with your annoying in-laws because the Lions are on tv and the game is 35-0 at the beginning of the second quarter, and now no one wants to watch the game, and so instead of watching football you have to make conversation and pretend to like these people, it's all because the Lions suck!

End this madness! Write your congressman now!

[Mark17]

Originally Posted by SAllen2556

Just remember tomorrow during Thanksgiving when you're forced to have to interact with your annoying in-laws because the Lions are on tv and the game is 35-0 at the beginning of the second quarter, and now no one wants to watch the game, and so instead of watching football you have to make conversation and pretend to like these people, it's all because the Lions suck!

End this madness! Write your congressman now!

Actually, it came down to the wire and was quite entertaining. The only people tortured were......... Lions fans. Sorry.

[egri]

I saw this on Reddit, that the Lions fired Jim Caldwell after he won 36 games in four years. In the four years since, they have won 13 games.

[SAllen2556]

Lions fall to 0-10-1. Current winless streak is 15 games. I'm very happy that some of you found the game entertaining. People in Chicago certainly had a good laugh while stuffing their turkeys yesterday. Fortunately I was drunk by the end of the game and didn't see the last kick.

A couple more tidbits:

The Detroit Lions hold the record for the longest postseason losing streak, dropping nine consecutive playoff games starting in 1991 – a streak which is still active.

Last season the Lions made NFL history as the only team to have blown 4 straight games in which they led by double digits. It’s a mark of futility that had not been challenged thus far in the league.

I think even Republicans and Democrats in congress can agree: the Ford family should be made to sell this team. Write your congressman now!

[nolemmings]

I'm sorry. I really didn't know it was that bad this season. I went on record saying that Stafford is not that good and Goff not that bad for their trade to make a noticeable difference. I might yet be right. The Lions might just be that bad top to bottom where no particular QB, no matter how great, would matter.

I'm starting to see your point. Take the NFC pro bowl team, make them wear Lions uniforms and helmets, and they probably do not play .500 ball. I take no glee in that, as I cheer for the NFC North teams when they aren't playing my beloved (and cursed) Vikings. I also still believe the Lions have one of the 2-3 coolest uniforms, maybe best. Still, something seems to happen to guys when they put on that uniform and take the field.

The Thanksgiving coaching buffoonery and lack of discipline (two third and 32s in one game) was really embarrassing. I truly believe those guys want to win and are trying--they just do not know how and there is no leadership. Also, whether you believe in such things or not, there is bad karma surrounding that team.

I hope you turn it around--I've pulled for the Lions since back when the first Sanders HOFer (a Golden Gopher) was playing there, and even remember the Alex Karras, Roger Brown and Milt Plum years. Seems like a long time ago. Oh wait.. it was.

[GasHouseGang]

There's an old joke, "How do you keep Bears off you lawn? Put up a goalpost!" This might apply more to Lions than Bears. Sorry Detroit.

[pclpads]

" . . . There is a new Ford this year - Sheila. She played college tennis, so she understands what it takes to run a pro football team." I believe that is called damning with faint praise. LOL! You must envy San Diego FB fans. Yes, we lost the Dolts to LA but, thank God, we are rid of the dreaded, incompetent Spani ownership. Sort of like watching your mother-in-law drive over a cliff in your new Lexus.

[egri]

At least Michigan beat Ohio St. today. Though that may give Jim Harbaugh more time, so a bit of a double-edged sword.

[Mark17]

Ouch. The Vikings lose to the kitty cats.

Just out of curiosity, when there are 4 seconds left and the Lions are at about the 15 yard line needing a TD to win, wouldn't you think the defensive backs would be playing on or in front of the goal line instead of 10 feet behind it?

Congrats Lions and Lion fans. Not only did you get a win, you probably knocked your rival out of the playoff picture.

[nolemmings]

Originally Posted by Mark17

Ouch. The Vikings lose to the kitty cats.

Just out of curiosity, when there are 4 seconds left and the Lions are at about the 15 yard line needing a TD to win, wouldn't you think the defensive backs would be playing on or in front of the goal line instead of 10 feet behind it?

Congrats Lions and Lion fans. Not only did you get a win, you probably knocked your rival out of the playoff picture.

With any luck, the Vikes will have a new head coach before next Thursday's game against Pittsburgh.

[SAllen2556]

I don't know what to say. There's been about 4 games this year that have been like today - so sloppy it seems like both teams are trying to lose. This was NOT a well-played football game.

Lions led 23-21 with 4 minutes left in the 4th quarter and WENT FOR IT ON 4TH DOWN FROM THEIR OWN 28 YARD LINE!! Of course they didn't make it. But the Vikings just seemed destined to give this one away. It was strange. I wonder how many F-150 commercials Ford family had to buy to convince the NFL to let us win a game?

I heard the call of the winning touchdown of the game in the car. The Lions' announcer screamed like the team had won the damn Super Bowl®. It was embarrassing.

[steve B]

I have to think things will turn around someday. *

Like- at least you haven't had a coach nearly get electrocuted during his introductory press conference....


*I do agree that the ownership can make a huge difference. The Red Sox were pretty bad for most of 80+ years until they got away from any Yawkey influence (yes, even after they'd both died... the trust, the bunch of former players... )

[SAllen2556]

I started this thread in 2021, and today, a mere two years later, the Detroit Lions went to 5 wins and 1 loss. I think you all better check your home-owner's policies because we may be facing the apocalypse.

I can't believe it could be so, but I think the Detroit Lions are......good. Today's game against Tampa was a game that even above-average Lions teams from the past would have lost. And we won. It's really weird. I'm 57 and this is the first time, even including Barry Sanders days, that I think the Lions could compete for a spot in the NFL Championship. Oops, I guess the kids call it the Super Bowl® now.