The curse of Bobby Layne is a mystery that has affected the Detroit Lions NFL franchise for over 50 years.
Layne was an NFL quarterback who played from 1948-1962 after a very successful collegiate career at the University of Texas. Layne was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1948 but did not wish to play with them due to the formation they ran, so the Steelers traded his rights to the Chicago Bears.
After a short time with the Bears, Layne was traded to the Lions where he was reunited with high school teammate, Doak Walker. They then helped the Lions franchise win two championships. Layne and Walker won back-to-back championships with the Lions in the 1952 and 1953 NFL seasons. Walker retired in 1955 unexpectedly, and Layne suffered a broken leg in 1957, putting him out for the season. Back-up quarterback, Tobin Rote, led the Lions to their third league title and Lions’ management decided that they would move on from Layne.
The Lions wanted to trade Layne who was 31 years old at the time, but he refused and vowed that the Lions wouldn’t win for 50 years. The trade was completed, and Layne was traded to the Steelers where he played from 1958-1962. Layne’s career ended in 1962, but the curse he put on the Lions’ franchise would follow them.
Fifty years since he was traded, the Lions haven’t won the Super Bowl and have put up the worst winning percentage in football. The curse was set to expire in 2008, the same season that the Lions became the first NFL team to not win a single game over the course of the season.
Now, 12 years after the curse has expired, the Lions have made it to three playoff games where the result ended the same, each with a loss. The closest the Lions have come to a Super Bowl is when they lost the conference championship game in 1991 with Lions’ legend Barry Sanders leading the team.
The urban legend behind this has been curious to follow as it provides the question, “is the Bobby Layne curse real?” As an avid football viewer, I believe that the curse is indeed real, and that the loss of Layne provided Lions’ fans with many questions about their team management and the executives who made decisions.
Over the years since the trade, the Lions have made many mistakes when it comes to building the team and choosing the right head coach. This shows with many of the first round picks they made that were busts and didn’t provide anything to the organization. However, it would be foolish to say that all the first round picks they have made were bad. The decision to pick up talents like Barry Sanders, Calvin Johnson Jr. and Matthew Stafford were great but the rest of the team wasn’t able to adapt and improve around them.
The Lions still have a chance to change their future as they continue to build their team, but the curse of Bobby Layne still remains plays a role in the organization.
Armin Mesinovic can be reached [email protected] on Twitter @arminmesinovic.