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.

The curse was never confirmed by anyone else but as the Lions have lived up to the prophecy with 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, and it seems those efforts could be coming to fruition with the 2023 team. The Lions host the L.A. Rams in the first round of the NFL playoffs Sunday with the goal of winning the franchise's first playoff game in 32 seasons after securing the first division title in 30 years.

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

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.

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.

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.

“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.

Living with a hex

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.

The Lions have only won a single playoff game, coming in the 1991 Divisional Round, since the curse supposedly began. The Lions have made the playoffs 12 times since then, boasting a 1-12 record overall 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.

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.

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 20-8 since that moment, including winning the NFC North for the first time.

Curse by the numbers

Here is the Lions' track record since trading Layne on Oct. 6, 1958, as of the end of the 2023 regular season:

Record: 422-563-18.

Playoff appearances: 13 (1970, '82, '83, '91, '93, '94, '95, '97, '99, 2001, '14, '16, ‘23).

Playoff win: 1 (1991).

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?