On Monday night, the Michigan Wolverines defeated the UConn Huskies to win the Men’s Basketball Championship for the 2025-26 season. The title comes just a few years after the Wolverines’ football team also produced a National Championship. And later this week, the men’s hockey team will compete in the Frozen Four to potentially make it three championships in three different sports over the span of just a few years. In short, it’s great to be a Michigan Wolverine right now. Arguably, it’s one of the greatest eras for the program.
As modern Detroit Lions fans, we’ve never seen success like that. But I felt this was a good opportunity to reflect on our fortunes, even if they’re nowhere near as bountiful as the Wolverines’ success.
Today’s Question of the Day is:
My answer: The easy (and almost certainly correct) answer is the 1950s. Detroit won three championships in that decade (1952, 1953, and 1957), and they nearly three-peated in 1954, losing to the Browns in the championship after going 9-2-1 in the regular season.
But that, quite frankly, is a boring answer, and it’s an era of Lions football I didn’t get to experience.
The best era of Detroit Lions football I’ve lived through is the current one. To some, that may sound pathetic—and maybe it is—but under Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes, this team has not only been way more successful than I’ve ever experience, but they’ve been easy and fun to root for. With some notable exceptions here and there, this franchise has been ran in a way that is both conducive to success and endearing to fans.
While Detroit may be lacking in rings and titles in the modern era, it’s easy to forget just how incredibly good they’ve been on a week-to-week basis over the last four seasons. As a reminder, only two teams have more wins than the Lions since 2022:
1. Eagles: 50-18
2. Bills: 49-18
t-3. Lions: 45-23
t-3. Chiefs: 45-22
t-5. Vikings: 43-25
t-5. Ravens: 43-25
t-5. 49ers: 43-25
It’s easy to be down on this team right now because of the way last year finished and an offseason full of depressing headlines, but it’s also important to give perspective. The only reason we’re so disappointed right now is because the standard hasn’t been this high in literally seven decades.
Rather than simply go by record, let’s shift the conversation in the comment section: Which era of Lions football is your favorite? Doesn’t have to be the most successful, but just one you’ll always remember fondly.
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