NFL Playoffs: Can the Lions End Their Curse?

Published January 9, 2025 5:11 pm

Updated January 9, 2025 10:40 pm

Author Paul Lebowitz

There is an oft-repeated question regarding the 2024-25 NFL playoffs: Can the Lions end their championship curse? It takes on greater significance given that they are the favorite to win the Super Bowl.

On paper, they certainly can break their curse. However, looking at their history and how they got here might be even more important when deciding to believe in them or think they’ll falter as they did in last year’s NFC Championship Game loss to the 49ers.

Super Bowl Winner Odds

Team	Money Line
Lions	+320
Chiefs	+325
Ravens	+550
Bills	+575
Eagles	+700

Curses, Ineptitude, or Both?

The Lions franchise was established in 1930 as the Portsmouth Spartans. Over the next quarter century, they won four championships including two straight in 1952-53. They lost in the title game in 1954. They won another championship in 1957.

After that? Nothing.

In the Super Bowl era from 1966 to today, they’ve only made the playoffs 13 times and finished above .500 19 times. Even in years in which they were favored and/or feared, they fell short. That includes 1983, 1991, and 1995.

To briefly summarize:

1983: Detroit won the NFC Central at 9-7. Back then, division winners went straight to the second round. Matched up against the Joe Montana/Bill Walsh 49ers, Lions quarterback Gary Danielson threw five interceptions and they fell behind 17-9. Billy Sims scored on two fourth-quarter runs for a 23-17 Lions lead. Montana threw a late touchdown pass to put San Francisco up 24-23. Detroit still had a chance to win, but kicker Eddie Murray missed a 44-yard field goal with five seconds remaining.
1991: With Hall of Fame running back Barry Sanders, Detroit went 12-4 having won seven straight including a playoff divisional round 38-6 blowout of the Jimmy Johnson Cowboys. They lost in the NFC Championship Game 41-10 to Washington, who were on their way to a Super Bowl title.
1995: Detroit overcame a 3-6 start to go 10-6 with a high-powered offense led by quarterback Scott Mitchell and Sanders. They were second in the league in points scored. No team — including the Cowboys, 49ers, and Packers — wanted to face them. Lions tackle Lomas Brown guaranteed a win the week before their Wild Card game in Philadelphia and Eagles head coach Ray Rhodes whipped his team into a rage-fueled frenzy before a 58-37 win.

Futility, Mistakes, Reboots, and the Leader They Needed

In the 30 years since that 1995 failure, there have been eight full-time head coaches with varying pedigrees. Matt Patricia was likely the most embarrassing, living off his reputation as coming from the Bill Belichick tree. Patricia’s signature moment was lecturing a reporter on “respecting their process” and telling him to sit up straight while Patricia wore a feral beard and dressed as if he rifled through his laundry basket before heading for the stadium:

Patricia posted a 13-29-1 record before he was fired.

The heads of football operations have been similarly questionable reaching the nadir with Matt Millen’s 0-16 in 2008.

Few expected Dan Campbell to fare any better, especially after his seemingly insane introductory press conference:

This outdid Belichick’s resignation as “HC of the NYJ” via napkin.

Few expected “kick ya in the teeth” at 0:55 or “we’re gonna bite a kneecap off” at 1:02.

He was mocked as the epitome of a bad guy Neanderthal football coach from formulaic underdog films. But the team has become exactly what he predicted it would be, what he willed it into being. The Lions play like he played. And they’re likable.

So, Can the Lions End Their Curse?

This team has made all the right moves and done it linearly. From knocking the Packers out of playoff contention in Aaron Rodgers’ last game as a Packer in Green Bay in 2022; to Jared Goff trying to prove the Rams wrong for discarding him; and Aidan Hutchinson and David Montgomery insisting they’ll be back after suffering what were supposed to be season-ending injuries, that is the 2024 -25 Lions.

The question is, in the NFL playoffs, can the Lions end their curse? The answer is simple. Yes. They can end their curse and they’re favored to do so.