The Detroit Lions Perfect Season
(yes, we used this before but it's perfect!!!)

Welcome to Absolute Michigan's post commemorating the Detroit Lions' perfect 2008 season - an NFL record worst 0-16 record. Wikipedia's Detroit Lions entry has already note the milestone. They also remember the glory days of the 1950s when quarterback Bobby Layne led them to the league championship in 1952, 1953, and 1957.

In 1958 ... the Lions traded Bobby Layne. Bobby was injured during the last championship season, and the Lions thought he was through and wanted to get what they could for him. According to legend, as he was leaving for Pittsburgh, Bobby said that Detroit "would not win for 50 years." Since this time, the Lions have not won another championship and have only a single playoff game win. Some have attributed the Lions' subsequent 49 years of futility to the "Curse of Bobby Layne."

Nothing left to do but clip a few items for our scrapbook and hope that Bobby Layne's curse has been fulfilled.

Anatomy of a Disaster (Detroit News) - a loss-by-loss tour de farce of "the Season."

Woetown: Worst-ever Lions perfectly awful in going 0-16 (Freep) - The defense was horrible, becoming the first in NFL history to allow two 100-yard rushers and two 100-yard receivers in a game.

Perfectly awful: The truth is sad-sack squad simply stunk (Detroit News) - Veteran tackle Jeff Backus, Matt Millen's first draft pick in 2001, has endured every bit of the NFL's worst eight-year stretch -- a 31-97 record -- since World War II. Sunday, he couldn't help but note, ironically, "It was one of those years where it just all kind of came together."

The 16 worst teams of all time: Lions now No. 1 (mLive) - In all, the Lions used five different quarterbacks, had the NFL's bottom-ranked defense for the second consecutive year and allowed the second-highest point total in league history (517), finishing just 16 points behind the 1981 Baltimore Colts.

0-16: Milestone the Lions Would Rather Forget (New York Times) - “It opened my eyes to this is a business,” said (Lion RB Kevin) Smith, who has not experienced the thrill of victory since Central Florida beat Tulsa on Dec. 1, 2007. “This is not the football you played as a kid where there’s a team mom and everybody’s happy.”

Lions Lose to Packers 31-21, Finish Season 0-16 (Pride of Detroit) - It took the Packers only one play to crush any hope of a comeback. On the first and only play of the Packers' next drive, Aaron Rodgers threw a pass to a wide open Donald Driver for a 71-yard touchdown. The coverage was downright pathetic, and it really summed up how bad the defense has played all season long.

Lions first NFL team to finish 0-16 - "It's just kind of numb," veteran kicker Jason Hanson said. "It's here. It's been coming, though, a train rolling down the tracks for a while. We tried to stop it. We couldn't." (includes video for the pain junkies)

Well, They Done Did It (Side Lion) - As a true Lion, I will simply say that “it is what it is”.

If you have some links to add, please share them in the comments!!