This Detroit Lions trivia quiz covers nearly a century of Honolulu blue in 50 free questions with answers: the Ohio team that became the Lions in 1934, the radio man who invented the Thanksgiving game, the 1950s titles with Bobby Layne and the curse he supposedly left behind, the Silverdome, the 1991 run, Barry Sanders and the fax that ended his career, Calvin Johnson's record, the 0-16 season, the Stafford-for-Goff trade, Dan Campbell biting kneecaps, the 2023 playoff breakthrough, the 15-2 season and the collapse that followed, plus retired numbers, Ford Field and the Ford family. It starts with questions any fan can get and works up to dates, scores and names for people who remember Erik Kramer starting a playoff game. It suits a Thanksgiving-afternoon quiz or a solo test before kickoff. Every answer has been checked against a reference source, and each question shows its explanation and citation once you have answered.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The Lions franchise began in which Ohio town, as the Spartans?
Portsmouth
The Spartans joined the NFL in 1930 and were bought and moved to Detroit four years later.
Q 02The team was renamed the Lions in 1934 as a nod to which other Detroit club?
The Tigers
The idea was that the lion is the king of the jungle and the tiger the king of the baseball diamond.
Q 03What was unusual about the field for the 1932 Spartans–Bears playoff, played indoors at Chicago Stadium?
It was 80 yards long on circus dirt
The Bears won 9-0, and the game led the NFL to create divisions, a championship game and hash marks.
Q 04George A. Richards, who bought the Spartans in 1934 and moved them to Detroit, made his money in what business?
Radio
He owned WJR and paid about $8,000 for the team, then used his network connections to put its Thanksgiving game on the air.
Q 05The Lions' first Thanksgiving Day game, in 1934, was a 19-16 loss to which team?
Chicago Bears
The owner staged it as a gimmick to sell tickets; the Lions have hosted every Thanksgiving since except 1939 to 1944.
Q 06For which years did World War II interrupt the Lions' Thanksgiving tradition?
1939 to 1944
The Cowboys joined them as a permanent Thanksgiving host in 1966, and a third night game was added in 2006.
Q 07The Lions' shade of blue is officially named after which place?
Honolulu
It is meant to evoke the colour of the waves off the Hawaiian coast, paired with silver.
Q 08How many NFL championships did the Lions win between 1935 and 1957?
Four
1935, 1952, 1953 and 1957; the 1957 title game was a 59-14 rout of the Browns.
Q 09Which quarterback led the Lions to their titles in 1952, 1953 and 1957?
Bobby Layne
The Texan famously played without a facemask; Sports Illustrated called him the toughest quarterback who ever lived.
Q 10According to legend, what did the 1950s quarterback say when the Lions traded him to Pittsburgh in 1958?
They wouldn't win for 50 years
The "Curse of Bobby Layne" seemed real enough: the franchise did not win a playoff game until 1991.
Q 11The Lions are the only franchise from the whole modern championship era never to have done what?
Appeared in a Super Bowl
They reached the NFC Championship Game in 1991 and 2023 and lost both.
Q 12William Clay Ford Sr. bought control of the Lions on what notable date in 1963?
November 22, the day JFK was shot
He paid $6 million; the Ford family, led since 2020 by his daughter Sheila Ford Hamp, has owned the team ever since.
Q 13Who took over as the Lions' principal owner in 2020?
Sheila Ford Hamp
Q 21The Lions' 2008 team was the first in NFL history to finish with what record?
0-16
They had gone 4-0 in the preseason; Matt Millen was fired in September and coach Rod Marinelli after the finale.
Q 22Which Lions quarterback ran out of the back of his own end zone for a safety against Minnesota in 2008?
Dan Orlovsky
The play became the enduring image of a season that only the 2017 Browns have matched.
Q 23Calvin Johnson's 2012 season set an NFL single-season record with how many receiving yards?
1,964
The old mark was Jerry Rice's 1,848; "Megatron" retired at 30 in 2016 and made the Hall of Fame on his first ballot.
She took over from her mother, Martha, and hired Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell within a year.
Q 14Which Lions receiver died of a heart attack on the field during a 1971 game?
Chuck Hughes
He remains the only NFL player to die during a game.
Q 15The Lions played their home games from 1975 to 2001 in which suburban stadium?
The Pontiac Silverdome
Its air-supported roof was the first of its kind and it seated more than 80,000, the biggest in the NFL for years.
Q 16Which title game was played at the Silverdome in January 1982, with the 49ers beating the Bengals?
Super Bowl XVI
The building later hosted indoor World Cup matches and a papal Mass for 93,682.
Q 17The 1991 Lions won their first playoff game since 1957 by beating which team 38-6?
Dallas Cowboys
Washington then crushed them 41-10 in the NFC title game; the team had rallied around Mike Utley's thumbs-up after his paralysing injury.
Q 18The Lions' third overall pick in 1989, a Heisman-winning running back, came from which college?
Oklahoma State
Barry Sanders went on to rush for 1,000 yards in all ten of his NFL seasons.
Q 19How did the Lions' star running back announce his retirement in July 1999?
By fax to his hometown newspaper
Barry Sanders faxed the Wichita Eagle; he walked away 1,457 yards short of Walter Payton's career record.
Q 20How many yards did the Lions' running back rush for in his 1997 MVP season?
2,053
Barry Sanders was only the third back to pass 2,000, and finished his career with 15,269 yards.
Q 24Who gave Calvin Johnson the nickname "Megatron"?
Teammate Roy Williams
The comparison was to the Transformers villain and Johnson's enormous hands.
Q 25The 2010 'Calvin Johnson rule' on catches came from a season opener against which team?
Chicago Bears
His apparent game-winning touchdown was ruled incomplete because he let go of the ball while getting up.
Q 26Matthew Stafford, the Lions' first overall pick in 2009, came from which college?
Georgia
He threw for more than 5,000 yards in 2011 but never won a playoff game in Detroit.
Q 27In 2021 the Lions traded Matthew Stafford to which team in exchange for Jared Goff and draft picks?
Los Angeles Rams
Stafford won the Super Bowl in his first year there; Goff beat him in a playoff game two seasons later.
Q 28What did Dan Campbell promise to do to opponents at his introductory press conference in January 2021?
Bite a kneecap off
The former tight end had played for the Lions himself; he was hired on January 20, 2021.
Q 29The Lions' 2023 NFC North title was their first division crown since which year?
1993
It was also their first ever in the NFC North, which was only formed in 2002.
Q 30The Lions' first playoff win since 1991 came in January 2024, 24-23, over which team?
Los Angeles Rams
The visitors were quarterbacked by Matthew Stafford; Detroit then beat Tampa Bay before losing the NFC title game.