Dating back to the beginning of the Detroit franchise in 1930, the Lions’ all-time record through Sunday’s loss to the Bears is 556 wins, 654 losses, and 32 ties for a .459 winning percentage. There are only 8 current franchises with a worse historical record - one of them being the New Orleans Saints who this year is one of the elite teams in the NFL. The teams with worse all-time franchise win-loss records are 25. Bengals; 26. Jets; 27. Jaguars; 28. Saints; 29. Falcons; 30. Texans; 31. Cardinals; 32. Buccaneers. Of these bottom 8, the Jags and the Texans join the Lions and Browns as the only NFL franchises never to play in a Super Bowl.
Recent history is even more telling. I’m sure the Bengals and Saints have outperformed us since 1993. And that’s the most damning thing: no playoff wins since 1993. You should be able to trip and fall into success, but we haven’t even accidentally been “good.”