Tag Archives: Detroit Lions

Thank You Taylor Blitz Time Readers!

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Thank you Taylor Blitz Times readers as we had a record month in December that has drawn in more readers than ever before. 30,424 to be exact. To those new readers  who subscribed there are 725 articles covering all the players, teams, and historical articles. So please go to the search bar or subject categories and look for a particular team, player or subject, you’ll be surprised what you’ll find.

This endeavor was started to highlight defensive football and offer an alternative look at the game through the eyes of a historian. Most football shows have deevolved into staring at stats and only talking through the lense of a Walter Mitty type talking about the quarterback position. All the patterned nuance of hitting and visceral football that you and I both grew up playing gets lost. That essence that made us fall in love with the game.

So why The Chancellor of Fooball? Its simple… the love of the game is to cover every single football team and player throughout history, not just my Buffalo Bills. The American Football League and NFL teams before the merger. Writing and talking about your favorite team is too easy to me. It became a challenge to cover every single team with the same fervor than just who you are a fan of. That was my challenge to myself.

The new goal is to see Taylor Blitz Times hit our 1,000,000th read! So yes share the article, comment, agree with points or disagree with points, just be respectful while doing so. I want someone showing their son, nephew, or daughter a player from the past without stumbling across rancor in the comment section. Its not what I built here and as I curate my work its fun seeing articles showing up in places with youngsters because of such. Now you’ll see an occassional cute model for some eye candy but that’s all. Hey if the networks do it why can’t I? But no mudslinging back and forth you see on Twitter, Threads, or Youtube.

For those that are new here I want to encourage you to look around and there were several projects from the past that will be reissued this month. Some are having additional videos or pics loaded up with them to give them a fresher look. Then there are several projects from years gone by you’ll find interesting

Top Ten Single Season Defenses – An 11 article offering where the top 10 received their own article and my list of those that almost made the cut. Criteria? What were they ranked for the season, record vs ProBowl QBs, how many teams held under 10 points in their season and how they did against Top 10 offenses that year. There are 10 more criteria and too much to cover. This link takes you to the “honorable mention” once there go to the bottom and hit next to cycle through the 10 articles.

Where were you when Dwight Clark made “The Catch” to begin the 49ers dynasty of the 1980s? What about the hit in the 1990 NFC Championship that took out Joe Montana for two years? Well you can hear from Giant Leonard Marshall & Mark Collins and their thougts clicking the link. And Joe Montana , I loved seeing him get absolutely decked but this last link is for appreciating the greatest QB in the history of the game? Wouldn’t it be cool to see videos and NFL Films to show you how they were thought of at the time? Click the link… you’ll be right there.

What about The Pro Football Hall of Fame? Well I can tell you my first two subjects Robert Brazile & the late Kevin Greene were written on the same night. Kevin & his lovely wife Tara had me at his 2016 PFHoF induction and I was in attendance for Mr Brazile in 2018. I had the chance to meet him since I had been invited by Jerry Kramer to the induction ceremony in 2018.

With Kevin Greene after the Induction ceremony.

All of this stems from advocating for players and coaches who I believed belong in The Pro Football Hall of Fame. In all 14 of the 22 I’ve written about and sent letters for have been enshrined. I’m still connected with each family and its not lost on me as we head to Super B0wl LX in San Fran not to remember Kevin & Tara learning he had made it in San Francisco before Super Bowl L.

Who did I hear he had made it into Canton? NFL Network? ESPN? No Alicia Kramer, Jerry’s daughter after the disappointment he didn’t get in again. Which made this picture and the trip to Canton in 2018 so special! Very emotional hug right as Rich Eisen was telling everyone to sit down as The Gold Jacket broadcast was seconds from beginning. She was her father’s presenter on Saturday inside the stadium.

What about retrospecives on Ronnie Lott, Jack Tatum, OJ Simpson, Dick Butkus, or the legendary Johnny Unitas? I just gave you 14 links to articles out of 726 or 1.92% of all the articles compiled here with video and personal touch commentary. What other players or stories or conjecture pieces are in the other 712?? Thats for you to go and look for whatever you want to look up. Pay attention to the comment section also you never know what former players have stopped by to leave remarks.

Grab your old man and ask him who Jaguar Jon Arnett was and show him this.RIP he was a friend to Taylor Blitz Times and commented often. As did Chris Burford, do you know who that was? The first ever player signed by Lamar Hunt to play for the Dallas Texans/Kansas City Chiefs. Another friend to Taylor Blitz over the years.

Well enjoy and remember: If you enjoy or learn something like sometthing. Comment on it let me know you were here and what you thought. If you do that go ahead and share then subscribe.

Hey….another one of those cute football ladies again.

I’m off to have a dirty Martini with the Mrs. Thanks and I hope you come back and tell your friends to look up Taylor Blitz Times.

 

 

 

The Truth About Jordan Love

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Now I don’t want to go off on a ran here…but its time to talk about Jordan Love’s performance thus far. He earned the large contract and was on a trajectory to become one of the faces of the NFL but something happened. For clarity sake I am fond of the history of the Packers organization and championed the positions of black quarterbacks (Shameful Impatience w/ Black QB series) through many articles.

Its been a heavy burden filling Aaron Rodgers shoes and leading this football team. He’s done it admirably and when there were questions if he was the right quarterback he silenced them with his performance in the 2023 playoffs. After squeaking into the playoffs at 9-8 they were a heavy underdog and Love cooly led the Packers to a 20-0 start in Dallas on the way to a 48-21 upset. He went an efficient 16 of 21 for 272 yds throwing 3 TDs and never showed the nerves that most QBs face in their first playoff game.

Then the following week again on the road against the favored 2nd seeded 12-5 49ers, Love outplayed Brock Purdy. Going into the 4th quarter the Packers held a 24-14 lead before a defensive collapse and a costly 4th quarter interception. San Francisco didn’t take their 1st lead until McCaffrey’s 6yd run with just 1:07 to go in the game. Love had the Pakcers on the brink of the NFC Championship Game with a 21 for 34 performance 194 yds 2 TDs and 2 Ints, yet everyone left that game feeling Love showed growth solidifying his status as a franchise quarterback. Every pundit lauded his performance and couldn’t wait to see what was to come.

He was sailing along smoothly the following season until he came up against the new bullies of the block in Dan Campbell’s Detroit Lions. These were the two surprising teams from  the previous season showing promise and the 11-1 Lions were hosting Love’s 9-3 Packers with the winner having inside track to homefield throughout the playoffs. Love was never in the game and came out slowly in a 34-31 loss. Hey were the Lions just that good or…. hmmm? Then two weeks later a repeat performance against the red hot 13-2 Vikings, falling behind 27-10, ultimately losing 27-25.

They had gone from playing for a chance at homefield advantage and the best in the NFC to 3rd place in just the NFC North. Love and the offense were anemic at the start of each game and then scrambled back to make the score look respectable. When the eventual Super Bowl champion Eagles vanquished them 22-10 in the playoffs we were left with “Which is the real Jordan Love?” The Daniel who took his slingshot after 2 Goliaths in the ’23 playoffs or the disinterested lackluster QB we saw in 3 gigantic games with most of America watching when all was on the line?? All 3 happened in primetime and we needed to remove the stink that those 3 games gave us.

He now has the big contract and clearly the most important player on the Packers with a 9-6-1 record and losers of 3 straight.and barely hanging on in the 7th seed. Seriously?? Micah Parsons knee injury late in the year didn’t help but hold on with the excuses… Love went 18 of 25 for 183 yards in an inexplicable 13-10 loss to the 4-12 Browns. The opposing QB Joe Flacco, was traded just weeks later. Love could only muster 13 points in a loss to the Carolina Panthers in Lambeau & only 7 American points in a loss to the Eagles in back to back weeks. Each of the teams he was facing have had terrible offensive seasons where Bryce Young may not be back in Carolina and turmoil is abound in Philadelphia over Jalen Hurts play.

Love and the Packers were 3-5 against winning teams in 2024 & 2-4 in 2025. There could be more but 4 teams they faced this year are currently 8-8 but this has been a poor follow-up to the ’23 playoff run. This is a team that acquired a bellcow runner in Josh Jacobs (1,329 yds in ’24) they haven’t had since Ahman Green. Made a trade for impact defensive terrorist Micah Parsons to bolster the defense and his receivers? Well Josh Allen would light the NFL up if he had Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs, Dontayvian (what kind of name is that?) Wicks, and Jayden Reed. Ask any Bills fan to which I am one if we would trade receiving staffs even up with the Packers… in a New York minute!!

All these moves were made to aid Love in fulfilling the promise from 2 seasons ago and we just haven’t seen any progress. Every time he has faced the teams with winning records he has come out with the yips. Only scoring 10 in a home loss to the 8-8 Panther team who were 4-5 at the time with only 1 win on the road (Jets)? They breathed playoff life into a team when they should have buried them. Same with only scoring 10 in a loss to the 4-12 Browns constitutes a bigger pattern. Love and the Packers keep playing with their food when it comes to weak teams also. After two years of this underperfomance and watching Malik Willis play well in relief it may be time to ask “Is Jordan Love the franchise quarterback we thought he was after 2023?”

I’m leaning toward no for an answer and he has to prove it or watch over his shoulder for a replacement in 2026. He may need a deep playoff run to stem the tide but this is a very large sample size to analyze & he may have become Pope Dak Prescott II. I don’t see him coming out of this as he hans’t exhibited a killer instinct to put his opponents away. That is something that can’t be coached…it has to be already in a player especially a franchise quarterback.

At the beginning of the season I was of the ilk this is the season Jordan Love would stake his claim and take the Packers to the NFC Championship. I was high on Love to rebound but as the season wore on I knew. This was why I predicted they would lose 2 weeks ago to Chicago whose overtaken them after predicting they would finish ahead of the Bears in my NFC North Preview. Caleb Williams has grown to the place Jordan Love did not. I have seen enough!

Should they trade Jordan Love and go with Malik Willis next year?? *shrugs shoulders*

What do you think?

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2025 NFC North Preview

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The NFL world is still buzzing with the idiotic trade of Dallas prime pass rusher Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers. Moves like this completely tilt the field when a defense receives a weapon to bolster its lineup. Especially in this division. We all know of the seismic shift that took place when Green Bay signed the late Reggie White back in 1993, but remember the Bears bringing in PFHOF Julius Peppers to the division in 2010?

Chicago went from 17th in defense in 2009 to 4th and made it to the NFC Championship Game where they hosted Green Bay. Peppers was an All Pro for the 6th time in his career & 4th in NFL DPOY voting.

They did it again trading for future PFHoF Khalil Mack in 2018 leaping from 10th in defense to 3rd. They had been #1 for most of the season and Mack made his 5th straight Pro Bowl, 3rd All Pro selection, came in 2nd in voting for NFL DPOY (he won it in 2015) and led the Bears to a 12-4 record and first round bye. Mack was Taylor Blitz Defensive Player of the Year a 2nd time and The Chancellor predicted the carnage he would lay in Green Bay that first game on Monday Night. Why??

Well it was the 2nd coming of what happened when the San Francisco 49ers made the surprise move to pick up PFHoF DE Fred Dean at the start of 1981. Rivals within the division were unable to prepare for this terrorist to be dropped in their lap. They were unable to prepare via the draft or free agent personnel and here comes 4 time All Pro Michah Parsons. They were already the NFL’s 5th best defense in 2024. Yikes!

NFC North 2025 Prediction:

  1. Green Bay Packers 14-3 *
  2. Chicago Bears 10-7 @
  3. Detroit Lions 9-8
  4. Minnesota Vikings 6-10

The team best equipped to deal with Micah are the Detroit Lions with Pro Bowl Tackles Pinei Sewell (3rd) & Taylor Decker (1st). However the surprise retirement of 4 time Pro Bowl Center Frank Ragnow along with replacing Offensive Coordinator Ben Johnson will bring the Lions back to the pack and may have closed their window.

The best offensive line in football losing their Center is bigger than fans think. Blocking audibles and slide protections aside, he’s being replaced by an older (33 yrs) Graham Glasgow. Some of those holes for Jamyr Gibbs & Montgomery on stretch plays may be missing the 1st part of the season. We know what happens when Jared Goff has pressure up the middle also.

The schdule isnt kind with the Packers, Ravens, and Chiefs out of the gate where a 3-3 record is likely. One game is where they take on their old OC Ben Johnson now with the Bears. At least that game is home where they start in Lambeau and face the Ravens & Chiefs also on the road. Then have back to back road games in Washington & Philadelphia. The two teams that played in last year’s NFC Championship after the Commanders upset Detroit. They could be 5-5 after 10 weeks.

Much like the memo that went out to Packers QB Jordan Love, the same can be said in Chicago. The Bears fortifying their front line trading for Pro Bowl G Joe Thuney & Jonah Jackson and bringing in C Drew Dalman from Atlanta are proof positive the front office has done everything to make you a winner. No excuses.

Williams is set to make the jump 2nd year NFL players experience if by nothing else the talent put around him to win. This new look like with RB D’Andre Swift, WR DJ Moore & Rome Odunze will score more points under HC Ben Johnson. He has to produce and will but not to the degree of winning the division.

The Vikings will take a significant step back with JJ McCarthy taking over for Sam Darnold. Many thought the Vikings overreached for him in the 1st round two years ago coming out of Michigan. Last year he was injured and missed the entire season so this is his true rookie year.

Can he pick up and perform where Sam Darnold left off? No, Darnold was at least going into his 7th season and learned under Kyle Shanahan the season before coming to Coach McConnell. You have to give grace to McCarthy learning on the job and will have his ups and downs. This division is too stout for a 1st year starting QB though.

That Green Bay Packers memo I joked about? Well Jordan Love, last year management gave you workhorse back Josh Jacobs. He responded with 1,329 yards & 15 TDs to keep the pressure off. You might have the best corps of young receivers in all of football in Reed (55 rec. 857 yds 6TDs), Doubs (46 rec. 601 yds 2 TDs), then Watson & Wicks. Who will emerge or will they stay the hungry group fighting to outperform their counterparts?

Pick your poison as this team has weapons and I’ve already forwarned how the defense should improve. Its Watson who has to stay healthy and make the plays early in games to give the Packers leads against quality opponents. This was missing last year but was front and center in 2023 when he played his way into the divsional round & contract extension.

With all the talent around him plus the move to add Micah to the defense, management feels this is a Super Bowl push season. Where does Taylor Blitz have Love & the Packers?? At least in the NFC Championship Game.

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Week 5: The Detroit Lions Are Growing Into A Legitimate Playoff Team

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Monday Morning Musings … Aidan Hutchinson and the Detroit Lions are going to be a force come playoff time. They’re starting to dominate midlevel to bad NFL teams. Yes the final score was 42-24 but the Panthers were never in that game. They came out blazing and were up 14-0 in the 1st and up 28-10 at the half.
Hutchinson brought down the curtain.. 3 tackles, 2 hurries, 1 sack, batted another pass down and an interception from the D-Line! They chased the Panthers off the field. As their confidence keeps growing what will they be able to do come January??
Its time to talk Jared Goff in the NFL MVP race too. For the season he has thrown for 1,265 yards with 9TDs with 3 interceptions. Yet he played poised and led the Lions to a win over the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs in week 1. He’s led them to a 4-1 record and are the class of the division. Goff has led them to back to back wins in Lambeau Field including last year’s sending Aaron Rodgers into exile in the finale.
The Lions are growing and they are undefeated on the road which bodes well in gaining home playoff games as we move into the thick of the season. Watch for these Lions come January.
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2019 NFC North Previews & Predictions

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Welcome to the 2019 NFL round robin version of “Be Careful What You Wish For?” No division has had its teams decide to go down a given path then have to ask themselves if they have bitten off more than they could chew. Over in Packerland Aaron Rodgers questioned the game planning of Mike McCarthy and became downright ambivalent. Now he’s already made grumblings about new caoach Matt LaFleur’s decision to hold joint practices. Not exactly the way to show unity with the new coaching regime establishing a new culture.

Then off to Chicago where the NFC North defending champions entered last year’s playoffs, and the fear The Chancellor had “Would Coach Nagy call too cutesy a game in blustery conditions and cost the Bears a playoff game?”

Then came this nonsense on a 2 point conversion in the 4th quarter of the Wild Card Game at home against the Eagles:

Wouldn’t you know that ill fated 2 point conversion is the difference between the NFL’s #3 ranked defense going to New Orleans in the divisional round. They lost 16-15. Why not run former RB Jordan Howard on the 2 pt conversion vs a shovel pass in frigid conditions?? Remember him?? The 6’0 224 lb running back nicknamed “Bulldozer?”

Shovel pass to a 165 lb WR Taylor Gabriel at the goal line?? That is too cutesy…

This was the difference between winning a playoff by 1 and losing by 1…17-16 well that and Cody Parkey’s missed field goal at the end of the game. Then turnaround and trade your power back to the NFC rival Eagles who just beat you in the playoffs?? Who does Chicago give the ball to for the tough yards. On that ill fated 2 point conversion that was Khalil Mack motioning out of the backfield. What did I say about cutesy play calling??

2019 NFC North Predictions

  1. Minn. Vikings 12-4** (Homefield)
  2. Chicago Bears 9-7
  3. Green Bay Packers 6-10
  4. Detroit Lions 5-11

Watching all this is the division’s best team in the Minnesota Vikings. The national press and pressure is off of QB Kirk Cousins who didn’t live up to expectations after signing a huge contract to come over from Washington. As a team they fell from grace after an NFC Championship visit in 2017.

Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

Despite the smoke Cousins completed 425 of 606 passes for 4,298 yards 30 TDs and 10 picks and has the best WR tandem in Stefon Diggs and Adam Theilen. All Diggs (102 rec / 1,021 yds/ 9 TDs) and Thielen (113 rec / 1,373 yds/ 9 TDs) did was power the 13th best passing attack with room for improvement. There were 87 missed connections on passes that short circuited drives forcing punts and disrupted offensive rhythm in games. Cousins is a beta quarterback however this is the spot where he performs without expectations.

This is also the year Dalvin Cook has his break out year now that he is 2 years removed from a knee reconstruction. The same time frame Jamal Lewis ran for 2,000 and a year shorter than Adrian Peterson ran for his 2,000. Not to say Cook is going for 2K, just illustrating this is that explosive year post surgery and a 1,400 yard season is within reach.

Keep in mind the Vikings field the 4th best defense in all of football. This could vault to a number one status if Cook and the running game dominate time of possession. LBs Anthony Barr and Eddie Kendricks need to have great seasons against the run and covering speedy backs and crossing receivers.

Smith intercepting a pass in last year’s 17-16 wildcard loss to Philly.

Chicago is going to field an even better defense although their statistics will be skewed with an offense that won’t possess the football as it did last year. Not only is defending Taylor Blitz Times Defensive Player of the Year Khalil Mack going to be in game shape week 1, Roquan Smith is ready to leap into player of the year status himself. Wearing #58 is like watching Wilber Marshall reincarnated and making plays all over the field.

Smith will now have his first complete offseason to get ready for 2019. In a year he didn’t make the Pro Bowl, he led the Bears with 121 tackles with 5 sacks and 1 pick. In the Wildcard he took an interception 60 yards for a touchdown that was called back when he was ruled down by contact.

Danny Trevathan was second in tackles (102 / 2 sacks/ 2 ints) roam the intermediate passing lanes with Smith. Together they knocked down an additional 17 passes.

Mack is the only 2 time TBTDPoY and still lose in a division with no pro bowl tackles.

Keep in mind these hunters are behind Pro Bowl and All Pro Khalil Mack, Pro Bowl DT Akiem Hicks, and both Pro Bowl and All Pro S Eddie Jackson & CB Kyle Fuller had the same accolades. This bunch will play for a new coordinator in 2019 but expect the same results. This overall is an incarnation of the 85 & 86 Bears who endured a coordinator change and will have that type of impact.

The problem is this defense will be let down by the offense who traded their hammer (RB Jordan Howard) and accounts reporting Mitch Trubisky has been off in training camp. Can Tarik Cohen carry the load at RB?? Taylor Blitz doesn’t think so. Great change of pace guy but doesn’t have the rocks in his pockets to last the season. Quick and flashy but doesn’t run with body lean to get tough yards.

Chicago is much better starting Mike Davis #25, who is 30lbs heavier than Cohen, and ran for 514 yards on 114 carries last year. Without a prominent running game to rest this defense puts the ball in Trubisky’s hands. Opponents have to watch for constant “jet sweeps” and “bubble screens”.. trickery plays where the propensity for fumbles and issues will arise. Taking this team back to the pack.

Speaking of the Pack, for the first time we can say this team is in a rebuilding year in many a moon. Rodgers is still the staple at QB and has a younger team around him than in year’s past. Entering year 15 it seems like just yesterday this was the fresh faced QB with so many years to come… now he is where Brett Bavre had been.

In 2018 Rodgers enjoyed a season where he completed 372 of 597 passes for 4,442 yards and 25 TDs to just 2 picks. However he was short circuited by a defense ranked 22nd against the run and 18th overall. Despite his best efforts he was forced to come onto the field in deficit situations pointwise and momentum-wise.

How do we know this??  The Packers were 22nd when it came to time of possession. It’s a catch 22 where Green Bay wasn’t in position to work on their running game if they wanted to.

By the way did you see the last preseason game against the Ravens? They gave up 36 carries for 171 yards and 4.6 yards per carry. You can’t win football games that way as the defense was pushed off the ball all night. Yes it’s preseason but you can’t turn on and off the ability to knock your opponent back. A staple in football for more than 100 years. 2019 will look much the same way as this will be a rebuilding year and defensive leaders and playmakers need to emerge.

In 2019 it’s all Minnesota Vikings and they will go deep in the playoffs.

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On Any Given Sunday: The Lions Historic Upset of Green Bay in 1962

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Unlike any other sport, football has an ebb and flow where a wild swing of momentum can feel like a psunami for the team the tide is against. When Bert Bell, former NFL Commissioner, announced in a call with the press “On any given Sunday, any team in the NFL can beat any other team.” he had to have this game in mind. Now of course he said this while he was the NFL’s head honcho in the 1950’s, he wouldn’t be around for this game in ’62 with his passing in ’59.

Well as the 1960’s beckoned change had come to the NFL. The league office moved from Philadelphia to New York after Bell’s passing with a new Commissioner in Pete Rozelle. The Colts, who had ruled the closing of the 50s with back to back championships had fallen from grace as the doormat Packers had emerged from the shadows.

Doormat?? In 1957 and 1958, which were the two years before Vince Lombardi was plucked from New York as coach, Green Bay finished 3-9 and 1-10-1 respectively. Then their  meteoric rise to a winning season in ’59 and appearance in the NFL Championship in 1960 with a 17-13 loss to the Eagles.

Lombardi’s team stormed to the ’61 title with a 37-0 win over the New York Giants establishing a new era where they became the league’s dominant team. As defending champions they stormed to a 10-0 record in the most powerful start to a season in NFL history to that point.

Considering they had outscored their opponents 309-74 which included 3 shutouts while holding 7 teams to 10 points or less. Lombardi’s men seemed destined to repeat as champion & traveled to claim their 11th consecutive victim 11 on Thanksgiving Day in the motor city.

What is lost to history is how great an era of football the Lions had enjoyed during the 1950’s. They had won back to back championships in 1952 & ’53 over the Cleveland Browns. Although they won just as many championships (3) in the decade it was the Browns who were known as the Team of the ’50’s.

Head Coach George Wilson was rebuilding the Lions after a losing season in 1959. He succeeded Buddy Parker and led the Lions to their last title in ’57 as a rookie coach yet had to start anew at quarterback. Hall of Famer Bobby Layne had been traded to Pittsburgh and bullpen ace Tobin Rote was out of football. Detroit then traded for QB Milt Plum who had been a 2nd round pick of the Cleveland Browns to lend stability to the offense in 1962.

Although they had lost earlier in the season at Lambeau 9-7, the Lions were riding a 4 game winning streak and were 8-2 heading into their annual Thanksgiving Day game which they had played in since 1934.

The 8-2 Lions hosting the 10-0 defending NFL Champion Packers in front of a national audience:

This 26-14 win by the Lions was the only blemish on what became the most powerful NFL championship season up to that time. Green Bay finished 13-1 and beat the NY Giants for a 2nd straight NFL title 16-7 in cold blustery Yankee Stadium. They had outscored their opponents 415-148 which was just short of the 144 points allowed which was the all time record defensively. They had scored the most points and given up the fewest for the season. Hall of Fame RB Jim Taylor had led the league in rushing with 1,474 yards and an NFL record 19TDs. Even the ’72 Dolphins can’t measure up to this type of dominance.

As for the ’62 Lions, they finished 11-3 with a roster featuring 6 Pro Bowl players and 4 Hall of Fame players in Dick “Night Train” Lane, MLB Joe Schmidt, FS Yale Lary, and Dick Lebeau off of the defense. Many feel DT Alex Karras and DT Roger Brown also deserve to be in Canton. This was one of the greatest defenses assembled whose legacy was derailed by Karras’ year long suspension for gambling in 1963. The Lions fell to 5-8-1 in that year and never threatened the Packers for supremacy in the NFL’s Western Conference the rest of the decade.

However on one Thanksgiving Day in front of a national audience this defense played a lights out game and derailed the Packer’s perfect season.

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