Dave Birkett

Detroit Free Press

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Carolina Panthers played their first NFL season 21 years ago, and in the two-plus decades since their founding, they’ve already reached two Super Bowls.

In 2004, the Panthers lost to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots on a late field goal, 32-29. Sunday, they play Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos in historic Super Bowl 50.

The Broncos have two Super Bowl championships and five other Super Bowl appearances to their credit. When tonight’s game kicks off, they’ll tie the Patriots, Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers for most Super Bowl trips in league history.

While the Broncos and Panthers have enjoyed plenty of NFL success, the Lions are on the opposite end of the spectrum.

The Lions, who won NFL championships in 1935, ’52, ’53 and ’57 before the Super Bowl era began with the 1966 season, are one of four teams never to play in a Super Bowl, along with the Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans.

As expansion teams, the Jaguars’ and Texans’ futility can be easily explained. The Browns’ futility at least is mitigated by the fact the original team left for Baltimore after the 1995 season (and went on to win two Super Bowls). Cleveland went three years without the NFL, then started over with an expansion team in 1999.

The Lions’ futility? Well, that’s a long story. The Lions are the only team that has played throughout the Super Bowl era and never made the big game.

Here, in honor of Super Bowl 50, are Free Press sports writer Dave Birkett’s top-50 reasons the lovable, losing Lions have never been to a Super Bowl:

I: Ford, tough

William Clay Ford bought the Lions in 1963, and the team has had just 15 winning seasons since. Ford, who died in 2014, was a nice man who too often trusted the wrong people to build him a winner. His widow, Martha Ford, with the help of their four children, is running the organization now.I: Ford, tough

II: Uncle Scrooge

Russ Thomas was one of the people Ford left in power way too long. Thomas was the team’s cost-conscious vice president and general manager in 1967-89, when the Lions rarely reached the postseason and often got into contract squabbles with players.

III: Booth review

Matt Millen is the modern-day version of Thomas. The Lions lured him out of the broadcast booth after the 2000 season, and he ran the team for one of the worst eight-year stretches in NFL history. The Lions’ record with Millen as president: 31-84.

IV: Promo code

Martin Mayhew took over for Millen a few weeks into the 2008 season — and amazingly was retained as GM after the Lions finished the year 0-16. Mayhew did put together two playoff teams, but he’ll mostly be remembered for a litany of failed draft picks.

V: Oh, curses

As the old story goes, quarterback Bobby Layne, who helped the Lions win their most recent championship in 1957, put a 50-year hex on the team after he was traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1958. Of course, that doesn’t explain the past seven seasons.

VI: Just the fax

Barry Sanders was one of the most dynamic running backs in NFL history, but he walked away from the game with no warning on the eve of the 1999 season by faxing his retirement to a Wichita, Kan., newspaper. Sanders’ abrupt departure left the Lions punchless on offense for the next decade.

VII: Lucky strike

The Lions took Sanders with the third pick of the 1989 draft after the player they hoped to get, Tony Mandarich, went second to the Packers. Turns out, it’s better to be consistently good than occasionally lucky.

VIII: Piano man

Three years after Sanders’ retirement, the Lions spent the No. 3 pick of the draft on a quarterback they hoped would become the face of the franchise. Joey Harrington turned out to be better at playing the piano than football, and he was forced out of town by Steve Mariucci a few years later.

IX: Wide load

In an effort to surround Harrington with talent, Millen spent three straight first-round picks on wide receivers. Charles Rogers and Mike Williams bombed out in the NFL, while Roy Williams had a fine but unremarkable career. Ultimately, Millen’s decision to build outside-in doomed the Lions.

X: Second to none

Mayhew fared reasonably well with his first-round picks, but the second round was his kryptonite. From Titus Young to Mikel Leshoure to Ryan Broyles, draft picks that should have become the nucleus of the team now are instead out of the league.

XI: Odds and ends

The Lions made the playoffs for the first time in the Super Bowl era in 1970 but dropped a divisional round game to the Cowboys by the odd score of 5-0. The Cowboys got a fourth-quarter safety, and Bill Munson threw a late pick off the fingers of Earl McCullouch.

XII: Right stuff

The Lions made two playoff trips in the 1980s — in strike-shortened 1982 and the next season when they lost to the 49ers, 24-23. Billy Sims ran for 114 yards and two touchdowns in that game, but Eddie Murray pushed a 43-yard kick wide right with 5 seconds left.

XIII: Wash-ed out

In the 1991 season, the Lions won their only playoff game of the Super Bowl era, then got blown out by Washington in the NFC title game. Things started bad and got worse as Erik Kramer fumbled on the second play to set up Washington’s first of five TDs in a 41-10 loss.

XIV: Cover, too

The Lions won their last division title in 1993 and should have won a playoff game that season, too. Brett Favre threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Sterling Sharpe with 55 seconds left to give the Packers a miraculous 28-24 victory.

XV: Flag day

Controversy marred the Lions’ wild-card loss to the Cowboys last season, when officials waved off a pass-interference penalty midway through the fourth quarter following an incomplete pass on third down. Dallas scored the go-ahead touchdown on its next possession and held on to win, 24-20.

XVI: Whistle stop

Officiating cost the Lions in their playoff loss to the Saints in the 2011 season. Justin Durant picked up a Drew Brees fumble with a clear path to the end zone, but the play was blown dead. The Lions led at the time, 14-7, but the Saints ran away in the second half.

Albom: A Lions Super Bowl plea, if anyone's listening

XVII: Paul bearer

Playoff losses are one thing, but no game changed the course of the franchise more than a season-ending loss to the Bears in 2000. Paul Edinger’s 54-yard field goal with 2 seconds left kept the Lions out of the playoffs and ultimately ushered in the Millen era.

XVIII: Purple power

As much as the Lions are to blame for their Super Bowl-less predicament, they’ve had some powerhouses to contend with over the years, too. The Vikings won 10 of 11 division titles in 1968-78 thanks to Fran Tarkenton and the Purple People Eaters.

XIX: Bear in mind

The Chicago Bears weren’t quite as dominant in the 1980s, but they scored five straight NFC Central titles in 1984-88 and won a Super Bowl with one of the best defenses in NFL history. The Lions, meanwhile, had two winning seasons the entire decade.

XX: Arm and hammer

The Packers have had the best team in the division for most of the past 25 years, no surprise given the play of their quarterbacks — Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers. Green Bay had won 24 straight home games against the Lions before this season.

XXI: Quarter bounce

As good as the Packers have been at quarterback, the Lions have been just as bad for most of the Super Bowl era. Between Greg Landry’s Pro Bowl appearance in 1971 and Matthew Stafford’s last year, the Lions started 30 different mostly forgettable signal callers.

XXII: No help

At no point were the Lions’ deficiencies at quarterback more pronounced than in the 1990s, when they seemed to be a QB away from big things. Sanders played with journeymen his whole career, a big reason he’ll be remembered as one of the best players never to win a Super Bowl.

XXIII: Ware house

The Lions did try to give Sanders a quarterback early in his career, taking Andre Ware seventh overall in the 1990 draft. The Heisman Trophy winner proved erratic as a passer and was out of the league in five years.

XXIV: Mitchell plan

Four years after bombing on the Ware pick, the Lions signed Ware’s draft classmate, Scott Mitchell, to a three-year, $11-million deal in free agency. Mitchell had one big season in Detroit but ultimately landed on the scrap heap, too.

XXV: Mega minions

Sanders isn’t the only iconic player the Lions have failed to surround with the proper talent. For most of the past nine seasons, Calvin Johnson has been a one-man show on offense. Johnson, who’s contemplating retirement at age 30, has never so much as won a playoff game.

XXVI: Pitter Pat

The Lions signed Pat Swilling as a restricted free agent in 1992, only to have the Saints match the offer sheet. A year later, unbeknownst to some higher-ups in personnel, they traded their first-round pick for Swilling. The Saints took Hall of Fame tackle Willie Roaf with the pick; the Lions got 10 sacks out of Swilling in two years.

XXVII: Coaches’ call

In the ’90s, Wayne Fontes, below, and Bobby Ross had final say over personnel. They probably shouldn’t have, though, considering the Lions employed three future GMs at one point in the decade in Kevin Colbert (Steelers), Thomas Dimitroff (Falcons) and Rick Spielman (Vikings).

XXVIII: Buck shot

Fontes, with a career 67-71 record including the playoffs, remains the winningest and losingest coach in team history. The Big Buck, Monte Clark and Joe Schmidt are the only Lions coaches in the Super Bowl era to last more than five seasons, a problematic lack of continuity.

XXIX: Graveyard shift

Worse, no full-time Lions coach has gone on to coach another NFL team in the Super Bowl era. In a league of retreads, that says something about (most) of the men hired to run the team.

XXX: Gone clubbin’

One retread the Lions hired that they probably shouldn’t have was Steve Mariucci. First, they violated the Rooney Rule to bring Mariucci aboard. Second, Mariucci’s country-club approach to the game wasn’t the right fit for a young team. He was fired before his third season was up.

XXXI: Wind chimes

Mariucci took over for Marty Mornhinweg, widely panned as one of the worst head coaches in NFL history. Mornhinweg had no presence with veterans, and the lowlight of his 5-27 tenure as coach was taking the wind in an overtime loss to the Bears.

XXXII: Half staff

Head coaches are only as good as their coordinators, and the Lions have had some doozies through the years. No staff was more overmatched than Rod Marinelli’s 0-16 group of 2008. Jim Colletto’s offensive call sheets were a joke among players, and Joe Barry didn’t yet know how to run a defense.

XXXIII: Unlucky 13

The Lions have had their share of draft busts through the years. One particularly tough-to-stomach pick came in 1983, not so much for whom they took with the 13th pick (running back James Jones out of Florida) but on whom they passed (quarterbacks Jim Kelly and Dan Marino).

XXXIV: Tight wad

The 2014 draft is another Lions fans will remember for its missed opportunity. The Lions took tight end Eric Ebron with the 10th overall pick when they could have had Aaron Donald or Odell Beckham.

XXXV: Freddie, adieu

In 1965, the year before the AFL-NFL merger, the Lions drafted receiver Fred Biletnikoff in the third round. Biletnikoff didn’t sign with the Lions, though, reportedly picking the AFL’s Oakland Raiders because of money. He went on to be Super Bowl XI MVP.

XXXVI: Ten fold

Speaking of Super Bowls, one of the best players in Sunday's game, Denver’s DeMarcus Ware, was almost a Lion. The Lions zeroed in on the pass rusher with the 10th pick of the 2005 draft, but Millen was swayed in the war room to take receiver Mike Williams instead.

XXXVII: Busted coverage

In terms of sheer busts, few Lions draft picks can match Reggie Rogers, the seventh overall pick in 1987. Rogers killed three teens while driving drunk in October 1988. He played 11 games and had one sack in his Lions career.

XXXVIII: Cave men

Ndamukong Suh was a home run of a draft pick in 2010, but the Lions caved to his contract demands early, giving him a voidable sixth year in his rookie deal, then watched him leave for the Miami Dolphins in free agency without getting anything in return.

XXXIX: Billy ball

Injuries spoiled their share of good draft picks, too. Billy Sims was on his way to NFL stardom when he suffered a gruesome knee injury in 1984. Sims, the No. 1 pick in the 1980 draft, never played another down after his injury and the Lions’ ground game languished until Sanders came along.

XL: Best buy

Jahvid Best’s career ended not in an instant like Sims’, but from the cumulative effect of four brain injuries in college and the pros. Best looked great in flashes his first two seasons, but the Lions gambled away a high draft pick when other teams took a more prudent approach.

XLI: Cool Brees

Lions doctors were too liberal in Best’s case and maybe too cautious with Drew Brees. The Lions hoped to sign Brees as a free agent in 2006 but were scared away by a shoulder injury. Brees went on to win a Super Bowl with the Saints and is one of the most prolific passers in NFL history.

XLII: Tragedy strikes

Besides the death of Chuck Hughes, the most tragic injury to strike the Lions happened in 1991, when Mike Utley was paralyzed on the field. Eric Andolsek died a few months later, leaving the Lions’ once-promising offensive line in a state of rebuild.

XLIII: Home cooking

The Lions have hosted two Super Bowls, which was great for the city but bad for their chances of being in the game. No team has played in a Super Bowl in its home stadium, and the Lions didn’t come close to appearing in Super Bowl XVI or XL.

XLIV: Passive aggressive

Be it for salary-cap reasons, their own inability to judge talent or something else, the Lions never seem to go all in when they taste success. Coming off playoff appearances in 2011 and last year, for instance, they did little in the off-season to upgrade their roster.

XLV: Chase bank

More often than not, the Lions have chased trends rather than setting them. They went to both the West Coast offense and Tampa 2 defense years after their heydays, and now they’re hoping the Patriot Way will lead to success in Detroit.

XLVI: Brain drain

Along the same lines, the Lions have let some talented people leave the organization through the years. Adam Gase, a former Lions assistant, was the top coach on the market this year, and Bill Belichick, Chuck Knox and Don Shula were assistants.

XLVII: Dungy of doom

In some instances, the Lions have kept the wrong people too long. They had a chance to hire Tony Dungy in 1996 but kept Fontes as coach instead. Dungy took over the lowly Buccaneers that year and fashioned them into title contenders; Fontes was fired after the season.

XLVIII: Culture club

Losing cultures can be hard to explain but easy to spot. That’s a situation the Lions have found themselves in through the years, when losses have piled up to the point they’re expected and players want to be anywhere but at work.

XLIX: Banner day

Those banners the Lions have hanging at Ford Field commemorating their playoff appearances are one example of their misguided priorities. Making the playoffs is nice, but that alone isn’t cause for celebration. The Lions should have bigger goals.

50: Bottom line

The Lions just haven’t been good enough, all the way around.

Contact Dave Birkett: dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.

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Super Bowl 50: Scouting report, prediction

This graphic perfectly visualizes the Lions' sad futility