In 2004, the Panthers lost to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots on a late field goal, 32-29. Sunday, they play Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos in historic Super Bowl 50.
The Broncos have two Super Bowl championships and five other Super Bowl appearances to their credit. When tonight’s game kicks off, they’ll tie the Patriots, Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers for most Super Bowl trips in league history.
While the Broncos and Panthers have enjoyed plenty of NFL success, the Lions are on the opposite end of the spectrum.
The Lions, who won NFL championships in 1935, ’52, ’53 and ’57 before the Super Bowl era began with the 1966 season, are one of four teams never to play in a Super Bowl, along with the Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans.
As expansion teams, the Jaguars’ and Texans’ futility can be easily explained. The Browns’ futility at least is mitigated by the fact the original team left for Baltimore after the 1995 season (and went on to win two Super Bowls). Cleveland went three years without the NFL, then started over with an expansion team in 1999.
The Lions’ futility? Well, that’s a long story. The Lions are the only team that has played throughout the Super Bowl era and never made the big game.
Here, in honor of Super Bowl 50, are Free Press sports writer Dave Birkett’s top-50 reasons the lovable, losing Lions have never been to a Super Bowl:
William Clay Ford bought the Lions in 1963, and the team has had just 15 winning seasons since. Ford, who died in 2014, was a nice man who too often trusted the wrong people to build him a winner. His widow, Martha Ford, with the help of their four children, is running the organization now.I: Ford, tough
Russ Thomas was one of the people Ford left in power way too long. Thomas was the team’s cost-conscious vice president and general manager in 1967-89, when the Lions rarely reached the postseason and often got into contract squabbles with players.
Matt Millen is the modern-day version of Thomas. The Lions lured him out of the broadcast booth after the 2000 season, and he ran the team for one of the worst eight-year stretches in NFL history. The Lions’ record with Millen as president: 31-84.
