The Detroit Lions have emerged as one of the NFL’s most exciting teams over the past two seasons.
But despite their recent regular season dominance, the franchise’s six-decade-long wait for a Super Bowl appearance will continue in 2025 following their 45-31 loss to the Washington Commanders in the NFC Divisional round.
That’s right, the Lions have never reached a Super Bowl.
Along with the Houston Texans, Cleveland Browns and Jacksonville Jaguars, Detroit is part of an unflattering quartet of NFL teams never to reach to big game since it was dubbed the ‘Super Bowl’ in 1966.
While Jacksonville and Houston are two of the league’s newest teams – they were added in 1995 and 2002, respectively - the Lions (1930-) and Browns (1946-) have been around much longer.
Perhaps saying the Lions have never reached the Super Bowl is unfair, as they did reach and win several NFL Championship games prior to 1966. Detroit was crowned NFL champs in 1935, 1952, 1953 and 1957, although in those times, the two regular-season conference champions, Eastern and Western, automatically faced off in the championship game.
Once the NFL and AFL merged in the mid-1960s, the playoff format expanded to eight teams and the championship game was re-named the ‘Super Bowl.’
Since then, Detroit has undergone some of the roughest years of any American professional sports franchise.
The franchise has reached the playoffs just 14 times in the Super Bowl era, an average of once every four years. They have a total of three playoff wins in those 14 appearances, two of which came in the 2023 playoffs. 12 of those 14 appearances have ended with a loss in their first game, most recently at the hands of the underdog Commanders.
Detroit’s roster and coaching staff in 2024 was perhaps its best shot to reach the Super Bowl in the history of the franchise, considering key pieces – notably OC Ben Johnson and DC Aaron Glenn – expected to move on to other teams in 2025.
No matter which coaches and players are lost, head coach Dan Campbell has built a winning culture previously unseen in Detroit. No result is guaranteed in the NFL, as evidenced by the Lions falling short of the big game yet again in 2024, but the foundation is there for more playoff runs in the years to come.