The Detroit Lions are an NFL team based in Detroit, MI that is part of the North Division of the NFC. The team was originally based in Portsmouth, OH and was called the Portsmouth Spartans; they started play in 1929 as an independent professional team. This was just one team of many in the Ohio and Scioto River valleys. The Spartans joined the NFL for the 1930 season; the other independent teams in the area collapsed due to the Great Depression. Even with their success in the NFL, the Spartans couldn’t make it in Portsmouth, which was then the NFL’s smallest city; they were bought and relocated to Detroit for the 1934 season, where they were renamed the Lions in honor of the Detroit Tigers. The group that bought the team was led by Detroit radio executive George Richards, who owned WJR. Because of Richards’ radio connections, the Lions played a Thanksgiving Day game in their 1st season in Detroit; they continue this tradition to this day.

They have won only one playoff game since 1957, which occurred in 1991. The Lions went through the 2001, 2002 and 2003 seasons without a victory on the road. (The 2001 season was their last one at the Silverdome and 2002 was their 1st at Ford Field.) This caused the team to become the only NFL team not to win on the road for 3 entire seasons consecutively.