On this date 53 years ago Tobin Rote threw for four touchdowns and ran for another as the Detroit Lions defeated the Cleveland Browns, 59-14, in the NFL championship game. (That was it. There was no Super Bowl then.) It was the Lions’ third title in six years, all over the Browns. Since then the Lions have missed 44 out of 53 post seasons (counting this year) and are 1-9 in games when they did make it. For nearly all of that time the Lions have been owned by William Clay Ford, grandson of Henry and son of Edsel. The Lions aren’t exactly built Ford tough.
They were tough then though, when I was a kid and lived near Detroit (and went to a few games).
The week before the championship game . . .
In the divisional playoff, the Lions trailed the 49ers 24-7 at halftime. Through the dressing room walls at San Francisco’s old Kezar Stadium, they could hear the 49ers already beginning their celebration.
“We could hear them laughing,” Rote said in ’91. “The walls were paper thin. They were going on about how they were going to spend their championship game money. It made us angry.”
In the second half, the Lions scored three touchdowns in four minutes, 29 seconds and went on to win 31-27.
Pro Football Weekly (June 29, 2000)