Sunday 29 January 2017 12:20, UK
Detroit Lions are one of the oldest teams in American football and have four national titles to their name.
Their most recent title, however, came in 1957 when they won the old NFL Championship, so Lions fans have endured decades of a frustrating post-season curse in Michigan.
In 12 playoffs appearances, they have suffered 12 defeats, eight of which have come in the Wild Card Round since 1992.
The history of the Lions dates back to the city of Portsmouth in 1930 in the Spartans, who were one of the first members of the old iteration of the NFL. The lack of on-field success led to an off-field purchase and the franchise moved to Detroit in 1934.
A short period of dominance in the 1950s led to Detroit's only titles to date and they were, of course, years prior to the AFL-NFL merger in 1970. As of 2016, that makes them the only pre-merger team to have neither won a title nor even played in the Super Bowl.
To add to the despair for Lions fans, they registered one of the worst seasons of all time with a 0-16 performance in 2008. Today, despite having the best-performing quarterback they have ever had on their roster in Matthew Stafford - he holds the top three records for the most passing yards in a season for the franchise - the Lions are still struggling to claw their way beyond the Wild Card Round in the post-season.
With one of the most obsessive fan-bases in the NFL, Detroit continue the fight to end the half-century-plus drought in national league titles and reward the stubborn support.
