The Lions can break a 26 year streak in Week 1
The Detroit Lions have an extremely tall test ahead of them Week 1. They have to go out and play the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs in their stadium in primetime. If that task weren't tall enough, let's pile some history on top of it. I can't help it Lions fans, I'm a […]
The Detroit Lions have an extremely tall test ahead of them Week 1. They have to go out and play the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs in their stadium in primetime.
If that task weren't tall enough, let's pile some history on top of it. I can't help it Lions fans, I'm a historian. I went back to look at every time the Lions have played the defending Super Bowl champions to see how the Lions fared. Here's what I found.
First off, it's not great, but it's probably not as bad as you might have thought it would be. The Lions have played 23 games against defending Super Bowl champions and their record in those games is 6-15-2. Not good, but not the worst thing you've ever seen either. Six was actually more than I thought it would be. That's not the worst part though.
The worst part is that they haven't beaten a defending Super Bowl champion since they beat the Packers 26-15 in Week 5 of the 1997 season. Wait, that might still not be the worst part. They haven't beaten a defending Super Bowl Champion on the road since they beat the Cowboys 20-17 in Week 3 of the 1994 season.
They've had chances to beat the champs since that 1997 win. They've played five different teams and lost to all of them. The most recent loss was the heartbreaking 18-16 loss in Week 15 of the 2013 season. You might remember that game as the first time that Justin Tucker tore your heart out and kicked it 50 plus yards.
This Lions team is quite different though. This is probably the firs time that a Lions team that's expected to do big things and has the roster to back it up has had to face a Super Bowl champion. That might not mean that they go out an win, but they definitely have a better chance than you're used to them having.
We'll find out in just a few weeks.
Featured image by Kirthmon F. Dozier / USA TODAY NETWORK
