The Detroit Lions franchise were first known as the Portsmouth Spartans, a team based in Ohio and joined the National Football League (NFL) in 1930. The Spartans played their first game in 1932and lost 9-0 to the Chicago Bears.  In 1934 owner George Richards, who moved the team to Detroit and renamed it the Lions. In Detroit’s first season, quarterback Dutch Clark led the team in rushing, passing, and scoring. The Lions shut out their first 7 opponents and surrendered a record-low average of 4.5 points per game for the season, but they failed to qualify for the playoffs. In 1935 the Lions got their first National Football League (NFL) title, shutting out three of twelve regular season opponents and soundly defeating the New York Giants in the championship game.

Ernie Caddel was the team’s top runner and pass receiver. In 1940, a running back, led the league in rushing, and led the Lions in passing and scoring, but Detroit remained close to the bottom of their division. Two years later the franchise lost all eleven games of the 1942 season and scored only 38 points for the year. Detroit did not make a return to the postseason until 1952, when head coach Buddy Parker steered the team to its first of two consecutive NFL titles. Bobby Layne, a two-time NFL yardage champion, directed a Lions offense that also starred Doak Walker. The club’s many defensive standouts included safety Jack Christiansen, defensive back Yale Lary, and linebacker Joe Schmidt. Lary also ranked among the league’s finest punters. The Lions defeated the perennial Eastern Division powerhouse Cleveland Browns in the championship games of 1952 and 1953. Detroit won its third league championship in 1957 under first-year head coach George Wilson. The veteran Layne was joined on offense by John Henry Johnson.

The Lions once again defeated Cleveland in the championship game, routing the favored Browns by 45 points. From 1958 to 1981 Detroit reached the postseason just once, in 1970. Many players enjoyed individual success during the period, including defensive backs Lem Barney and Dick “Night Train” Lane, tackle (and future actor) Alex Karras, quarterback Greg Landry, linebacker Mike Lucci, tight end Charlie Sanders, and wide receiver Pat Studstill. In 1975 the team moved into the Silverdome, the largest air-supported domed structure in the world. In 1980 the Lions enjoyed their first winning season in eight years. Powering the offense was running back Billy Sims, who was named NFL rookie of the year. Head coach Monte Clark steered Detroit into the playoffs in 1982 and 1983.

The team’s division title in 1983 was its first in 26 years. Head coach Wayne Fontes took the Lions to the postseason in 1991, as Detroit won a franchise-record 12 games and played in its first NFC Championship Game. Fontes won the NFL coach of the year award. Detroit’s offense in the early and mid-1990s featured Barry Sanders, who won NFC rushing titles in 1989, 1990, 1994, 1996, and 1997. Detroit made the playoffs in 1993, 1994, and 1995 but lost in the first round each year. After a poor 1996 season Fontes was replaced by former San Diego Chargers head coach Bobby Ross. The Detroit Lions have never played in the Super Bowl. The Detroit Lions are a professional football team and one of four teams playing in the Northern Division of the National Football Conference (NFC), which is part of the National Football League (NFL). The Detroit Lions home stadium is the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan, and wear uniforms of blue, silver, and white.