Story by
Explaining the Curse of Bobby Layne on the Detroit Lions
- Story by
- Explaining the Curse of Bobby Layne on the Detroit Lions
The Curse of Bobby Layne has been engrained in the folklore of the Detroit Lions for more than 60 years as a way to explain their unmatched ability to fail .
Layne, who helped lead the Lions to three NFL championships during his tenure from 1950-58, famously cursed the Lions with bad luck after the organization traded him one season after its last championship in 1957.
Advertisement
The Lions have lived up to the prophecy and even surpassed it: They are the only NFC team never to reach the Super Bowl , and until 2023, had only one playoff win since 1957. The story has become entrenched into the fabric of Detroit sports history.
People have attempted to lift the 65 years-and-counting curse from the Lions ( thank you, Peyton Manning and Jeff Daniels?! ), and it seems those efforts could be coming to fruition with the 2023 team. The Lions have suddenly won two playoff games this season, and have made the NFC championship game for just the second time in franchise history.
Here is a quick breakdown of the Bobby Layne curse and how it predicted the next six-plus decades of Lions football:
The birth of a curse
Left to right: Bobby Layne, Leon Hart and Doak Walker were the Lions' big acquisitions in 1950.
Layne joined Detroit in 1950 after a trade with the now-disbanded New York Bulldogs. He quarterbacked the Lions to titles in 1952-53 and was the starting quarterback for most of the '57 season before he broke his leg late in the year.
Advertisement
Two games into the 1958 season, Lions coach George Wilson traded the Hall of Fame quarterback to the Pittsburgh Steelers and former Lions coach Buddy Parker, who was the Lions' coach for the 1952 and 1953 titles.
In exchange, the Lions received former Michigan State quarterback Earl Morrall and two high draft picks. Layne was angry and supposedly said the Lions wouldn't win a championship for another 50 years.
The Detroit Free Press sports page Monday, Oct. 13, 1958, covering Detroit Lions first game (an epic 42-28 home collapse vs. Los Angeles Rams) after trading Bobby Layne trade to Pittsburgh Steelers. Headline: "Lions Goof Up Again." The Steelers won Layne's debut, 24-3.
At the time of the trade, Layne was 31 and he missed the final three games of the 1957 season after he broke his right ankle in the second-to-last game of the regular season. That season, Layne had rotated with Tobin Rote, who led the Lions to their two playoff wins in spectacular fashion . Wilson said he was veering away from the two-quarterback system that teams regularly used in the 1950s while adding Morrall, who was the No. 2 overall pick in 1956, and two draft picks.
Advertisement
"Well, it hurt me, naturally, when I was traded to the Steelers from the Lions," Layne said in 1971 . "We had been very successful in Detroit. ... I really didn't know what to think.
"I tried what they referred to as a hex."
What angered Layne the most was how the Lions executed the deal. He was informed of the trade by Wilson over the phone while with his family in Lubbock, Texas, and was upset he wasn't given a face-to-face meeting after helping Detroit to three titles.
His son, Alan Layne, told the Free Press in 2017 he never heard his father speak ill about the Lions but was told by his mother that the curse indeed existed. Layne's teammates from the 1957 team also said they are convinced of the curse's existence, given the Lions' trajectory since.
Advertisement
Living with a hex
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Bobby Layne warms up before a game against the Cleveland Browns at Cleveland Stadium, Nov. 25, 1962.
After the trade, it took the Lions until 1970 to make the playoffs again, and another 21 seasons until the first, and only, playoff victory in the post-Layne era up until the 2023 season.
The Lions, entering the 2023 season, had only won a single playoff game, coming in the 1991 divisional round , since the curse supposedly began. They had made the playoffs 12 times since Layne's curse, boasting a 1-12 overall record — with nine straight losses over the past 32 years.
But the playoffs are just part of the story of the Lions' woes under the curse, and the painful moments fans have had to endure.
Detroit Lions former quarterback and NFL Hall of Famer Bobby Layne is honored at the coin toss prior to Super Bowl XVI at the Silverdome, Jan. 24, 1982 in Pontiac, Michigan. The San Francisco 49ers defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 26-21.
In 2008, the 50-year mark when the curse was supposed to be over, the Lions became the first team in NFL history to go winless in a 16-game season. They have lost Hall of Famers Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson early to retirement due to not being able to provide enough winning to counteract the violence they endured as football players.
Advertisement
READ MORE: Detroit Lions playoff history: 5 most painful losses all-time
The Lions have been on the wrong side of some controversial calls, including Week 17 against the Dallas Cowboys this season, and have churned through coaches unable to lift the weight of the curse from their shoulders.
However, Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning attempted to exorcize the curse along with Lions fans Jeff Daniels and Keegan-Michael Key during the 2022 season. The Lions are now 22-8 since that moment, including winning the NFC North for the first time and doubling their playoff win total in the Super Bowl era.
Curse by the numbers
Here is the Lions' track record since trading Layne on Oct. 6, 1958, as of the NFC championship game:
Advertisement
Record:424-563-18.
Playoff appearances:13 (1970, '82, '83, '91, '93, '94, '95, '97, '99, 2011, '14, '16, '23).
Playoff wins:3 ( 1991 , 2 in 2023).
Division titles:4 (1983, '91, '93, '23).
Championships:0 (Lions won three championships with Layne: 1952, '53, '57).
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Explaining the Detroit Lions' Curse of Bobby Layne: Is it real?
