Detroit Lions
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This Detroit Lions trivia quiz covers nearly a century of Honolulu blue in 49 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 49 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The Lions franchise began in which Ohio town, as the Spartans?
Portsmouth
Portsmouth fielded the Spartans, who in 1932 beat the reigning champions 19-0 with the same eleven men playing all 60 minutes, because their coach refused to make a single substitution.
Q 02The team was renamed the Lions in 1934 as a nod to which other Detroit club?
The Tigers
The Tigers were the tie-in, and a team spokesman added that the lion is monarch of the jungle and the club hoped to be monarch of the league.
Q 03The 1932 Spartans–Bears playoff moved indoors to Chicago Stadium, onto dirt left behind by which event?
A circus
A circus had just left, elephants and all, so the teams played on its dirt, and the makeshift rules worked well enough that the NFL adopted hash marks the next season.
Q 04George A. Richards owned which kind of business when he bought the Spartans and moved them to Detroit in 1934?
Radio station
A radio station, Detroit's WJR, was his, and he used his broadcasting ties to put the team's first Thanksgiving game on national radio that same year.
Q 05Lions stars Lem Barney and Mel Farr sang background vocals on which Marvin Gaye classic?
What's Going On
What's Going On features both Lions, and Gaye then trained for a Lions tryout of his own, saying he would rather score one touchdown than earn another gold record.
Q 06On Thanksgiving 1962, the Lions sacked the quarterback 11 times to beat which unbeaten 10-0 team?
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers had edged Detroit 9-7 earlier that season after a late interception, so the Lions treated the rematch as payback in what became known as the Thanksgiving Day Massacre.
Q 07The Lions' shade of blue is officially named after which place?
Honolulu
Honolulu blue was, by team lore, the first owner's idea after a trip to Hawaii, where he admired the colour of the Pacific waves.
Q 08The Lions last won an NFL title under which US president?
Eisenhower
Eisenhower was in office in December 1957, when Detroit won it behind a quarterback who had taken over only weeks earlier, after the starter broke his ankle.
Q 09Which quarterback led the Lions to back-to-back NFL titles in 1952 and 1953?
Bobby Layne
Bobby Layne won the second of them by driving the Lions 80 yards in the final minutes for a 17-16 win, and a teammate said he never lost a game, time just ran out on him.
Q 10By legend, what did the Lions' star quarterback vow when traded to Pittsburgh in 1958?
They wouldn't win for 50 years
They wouldn't win for 50 years is the line of legend, yet it never reached print at the time, and a Detroit News columnist who covered those teams doubts it was ever said.
Q 11As of 2026, the Lions are the only NFC team never to have done what?
Appeared in a Super Bowl
Appeared in a Super Bowl is the gap, even though the game has twice been staged in the Lions' own home stadiums, in 1982 and 2006.
Q 12Who took over as the Lions' principal owner in 2020?
Sheila Ford Hamp
Sheila Ford Hamp succeeded her mother, Martha, that June, and within seven months she had hired general manager Brad Holmes and head coach Dan Campbell to rebuild the team.
Q 13Which Lions receiver died of a heart attack on the field during a 1971 game?
Chuck Hughes
Chuck Hughes had run a route on a play that went elsewhere and fell untouched; the final minute was played out in near silence, and the Lions later retired his number 85.
Q 21Which Lions quarterback ran out of the back of his own end zone for a safety against Minnesota in 2008?
Dan Orlovsky
Dan Orlovsky drifted out under pressure in the first quarter, and those two points decided it: Minnesota won 12-10 on a field goal in the final seconds.
Q 22Calvin Johnson's 1,964 receiving yards in 2012 broke whose single-season record?
Jerry Rice
Jerry Rice's 1,848 had stood for 17 years, yet the record season brought only five touchdowns, on a team that lost its last eight games.
Q 23Who gave Calvin Johnson the nickname "Megatron"?
Teammate Roy Williams
Teammate Roy Williams coined it in 2007, struck by the rookie's huge hands; a year later he tried a new name, 'Bolt', after the sprinter, but the first one stuck.
Q 14The Lions played their home games from 1975 to 2001 in which suburban stadium?
The Pontiac Silverdome
The Pontiac Silverdome cost $55.7 million to build, yet after the Lions left, the city auctioned it off in 2009 for $583,000, about one per cent of that.
Q 15Which team won its first NFL title at the Lions' home stadium in January 1982, beating the Bengals?
San Francisco 49ers
San Francisco 49ers coach Bill Walsh and quarterback Joe Montana sat stuck on a bus half a mile from the stadium, held up by the vice president's motorcade, then won 26-21.
Q 16The 1991 Lions won their first playoff game since 1957 by beating which team 38-6?
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys met a team that had rallied around guard Mike Utley, who gave a thumbs-up from the stretcher after being paralysed that November; Detroit did not lose again until the NFC title game.
Q 17The Lions' third overall pick in 1989, a Heisman-winning running back, came from which college?
Oklahoma State
Oklahoma State first used him as Thurman Thomas's backup and kick returner, so his record 2,628-yard Heisman season in 1988 was his only year as the starter.
Q 18How did the Lions' star running back announce his retirement in July 1999?
By fax to his hometown newspaper
By fax to his hometown newspaper, the Wichita Eagle, on the eve of training camp; he quit at 31 within reach of the career rushing record, and the Lions made him repay part of his signing bonus.
Q 19Which quarterback shared the 1997 NFL MVP award with the Lions' star running back?
Brett Favre
Brett Favre shared it with the back, who topped 100 yards in a record 14 straight games that year, yet played only one more season before walking away at 31.
Q 20The Lions' 2008 team was the first in NFL history to finish with what record?
0-16
0-16 followed a perfect 4-0 preseason; the general manager was fired in September, and the head coach went once the season ended.
Q 24The 2010 'Calvin Johnson rule' on catches came from a season opener against which team?
Chicago Bears
Chicago Bears fans watched him come down with the go-ahead pass with 31 seconds left, but he let the ball go as he rose, the score was wiped out, and Detroit lost 19-14.
Q 25Matthew Stafford, the Lions' first overall pick in 2009, came from which college?
Georgia
Georgia's quarterback threw for 5,038 yards in 2011, his first full season as a healthy starter, and carried Detroit to its first playoff berth in 12 years.
Q 26In 2021 the Lions traded Matthew Stafford and got which quarterback back along with draft picks?
Jared Goff
Jared Goff came with two first-round picks and a third-rounder, and three years later he beat Stafford's new team for Detroit's first playoff win in 32 years.
Q 27What did Dan Campbell promise to do to opponents at his introductory press conference in January 2021?
Bite a kneecap off
Bite a kneecap off was his picture of a team that gets knocked down, like its city, and takes a piece of you on the way back up; he had been a Lions tight end himself.
Q 28The Lions' last division title before 2023 came in 1993, in which division?
NFC Central
NFC Central was the name until the 2002 realignment, so 2023 brought Detroit's first NFC North crown, won with a quarterback who had not been born in 1993.
Q 29The Lions' first playoff win since 1991 came in January 2024, 24-23, over which team?
Los Angeles Rams
Los Angeles Rams arrived with Matthew Stafford, Detroit's own quarterback for 12 seasons, and lost by a point; the Lions then beat Tampa Bay before falling in the NFC title game.
Q 30The Lions led the 2023 NFC title game 24-7, then lost after twice declining what?
Field goal attempts
Field goal attempts were on offer on two fourth downs in the second half; Detroit went for it both times, failed both, and lost 34-31.