There is no rational thought that says there is any reason to believe in curses. The Bambino? The Goat? And……? Well, it’s a long drop off to the Curse of Kirk Cousins, in which someone has taken the time to realise that no team that has lost to Kirk Cousins has gone on to win the Superbowl. Surely that’s a statistical oddity and in no way a curse. Next to that, our Bobby Layne curse carries a load more weight. I have often thought that the idea of being cursed is just something for fans to unite behind. There was a turnaround after losing to the Miami Dolphins in week eight of the 2022 season, and there’s been no looking back since. You’d think we might be realising that an exorcism wasn’t what was needed. Good leadership is the reality behind the Detroit turnaround. No one needs to believe in curses when you believe in Brad Homes, Dan Campbell and Jared Goff.

I was there at Ford Field, October 30th 2022. It was my first trip to Ford Field, having been a Lions fan since 1991. Fittingly, as Barry Sanders was the reason for first becoming a Lions fan, Barry was there for the ceremonial coin toss. As a kid growing up in England, I’d never imagined I’d have a chance to be at a Lions home game chanting, “Barry, Barry, Barry!”

However, forgetting about living the dream, there was a reality of being 1-5 and playing against a good Miami team. And by the end of the day that reality was biting hard. I’d talked to a lot of people that day and will forever be grateful for those I sat with for making me feel like part of the family. I knew I was accepted from the moment that I commented on Stephen Tulloch’s appearance on the field at half time and I said, “Oh man. I hope he doesn’t celebrate and injure himself again.” No one got it until one guy stopped to mull it over and remembered that time that he tore his ACL Celebrating a sack back in 2014.

There was something comforting about being in the same stadium with 65,000 people who felt the same as me and as I slowly left Ford Field after another close loss, I was thinking that maybe we’re not heading in the right direction with this new leadership. I especially doubted Jared Goff and Dan Campbell. Although forever hopeful, I left that day thinking we needed a playmaker at QB, and we needed better decisions from our head coach. It looked like mock-drafting online would start early again for me that year. Same old Lions. They got me thinking about next year only halfway through the season. My belief in curses was rising and belief in management fading. What else is a fan going to think when you’re 1-6? One fan, walking through the crowd on Brush Street shouted the popular and somewhat tongue in cheek chant of, “At least we still got the Red Wings!”  Everyone knows what happened next for the Lions. I don’t know how it happened but since that game it’s been an incredible ride. What happened next for me still makes me smile.

I was on my way to Canton to go visit the Hall of Fame. It’s not often I’m in the area and the last time I was there was 1998 and Barry had only just retired. I absolutely needed to go visit the Hall to see him enshrined there.  I think my appreciation of the sport and the Lions had grown since 98 and in the subsequent years I discovered a whole bunch of Lions characters. So, I went and sought out the Hall of Fame busts of Night Train Lane, Doak Walker, Dutch Clark, Dick LeBeau, Alex Karras, Lem Barney, Yale Larry and of course, Bobby Layne.

He may have been laid to rest in Lubbock County, Texas but I’m sure some of Bobby Layne’s spirit can be found in the Hall, where his bust stands and his memory enshrined. I did the rounds and took my photos and when it came to Layne I knew that I, “wanted to have a word.” I just wasn’t sure what that word would be. I gave him a shrug and looked at the bronze bust. I thought, “Come on, what’s this whole curse thing about? Come on. 1-6? We didn’t have high hopes this season, but we had hopes.” I’m not often lost for words but it’s hard to find the right words when you’re bargaining with a bronze statue on the basis that you believe the man it represents can actually have any impact on your current team.

Five minutes later I was talking to a Lions fan, visiting the Hall with his son. I was doing the usual chat, explaining how I grew up watching the NFL in the UK and how someone from the South of England ends up a lifelong Lions fan and how it all comes down to being a Barry fan and fully committed to the team from that point onward. And then the son comes along and says, “Dad. Dad. We’ve just traded Hockenson.” Both the Dad and myself were startled by this news but not really shocked. Pretty much the first thing we both said was, “Who’d we trade him to?”  OK. In hindsight, trading one of the best pass catching Tight Ends in the league to a division rival wasn’t as bad as we thought at the time but my first instinct was, “You’re kidding me. Only five minutes ago I was asking the ghost of Bobby Layne to forget this whole curse thing and now you’re telling me we traded one of our best players to the damn Vikings? That curse is bad. Bobby Layne is some sort of demon.” We laughed like we don’t believe in curses.

It was at some point in that run to the end of the season where we looked like we belonged in every game, hell, we looked like we belonged in the playoffs, that I thought, maybe Layne was listening. Maybe many people had tried this approach before. Anyone else talked to Bobby Layne lately? Maybe this time he thought, “Jeez, this one’s come all the way from England to ask me about this curse. Maybe I can re-think this.” Trading Hockenson might have been the first part of the changes we needed. After all, Hockenson for LaPorta is the kind of swap that makes you believe we’re heading in the right direction. My trip had been full of coincidences, like me being a Lions fan because of Barry and Barry being there at the game for my first trip to Ford Field. My first full season as a Lions fan was 1991, which of course was the last time they won a playoff game. From 1-6 and the time of my chat with Bobby Layne, we went to the NFC Championship game within a season and a half, for the first time since 1991 and now there are a lot of people believing that this ain’t the same old Lions. Folks are talking Superbowl. It’s easy to say “coincidence,” but I’m covering all bases here and should probably publicly say: Thank you Mr Layne for listening.