Most football fans have experienced memorable moments, games, championships, and even bitter losses in the postseason over the last 89 years. But, many people only remember the champion or the runner-up in the last game of the NFL season, the NFL championship or Super Bowl. The December 18, 1932 playoff game featuring the Portsmouth Spartans (now known as the Detroit Lions) and the Chicago Bears was a memorable event as the NFL’s first postseason game with the Bears winning 9-0. In this special series, I will analyze each NFL team’s best championship season and the one season where they finished just short of claiming the NFL’s ultimate prize. The first team to be analyzed is… the DETROIT LIONS!
The 1952 Lions: Buddy Parker’s Return to Detroit
When Buddy Parker joined the Detroit Lions as an undrafted free agent in 1935 from Centenary College (a defunct college football program since 1947), the Lions were coming off their first full season in Detroit after they moved from Portsmouth, Ohio following the 1933 NFL season due to George A. Richards, a radio station owner in Detroit, buying the Spartans franchise after three consecutive winning seasons despite financial woes.
After recording a fourth straight winning season in 1934, Buddy Parker would play a limited role in the Lions backfield in his rookie season behind future Hall of Fame tailback Dutch Clark as Detroit would advance to the 1935 NFL Championship Game and defeat the reigning NFL champion, the New York Giants, by the score of 26-7 (Parker would score his first and only touchdown during his two seasons with the Lions in this game).
Following another winning season with the Lions in 1936, Buddy Parker would sign a contract with the Chicago Cardinals in 1937 for an expanded role on a struggling franchise, but he would only score four offensive touchdowns in his seven seasons with the Cardinals while also recording just four interceptions as a two-way player.
After a disastrous 0-10 season in his last season with the Cardinals as a player in 1943, Buddy Parker would join the Cardinals coaching staff as an assistant coach under head coach Phil Handler, but the Cardinals would continue to struggle with another 0-10 season in 1944 and a 1-9 season in 1945 (the Cardinals lost 29 straight games from October 25th, 1942 to October 7th, 1945).
But, during the 1946 offseason, the Cardinals would hire future Hall of Fame head coach Jimmy Conzelman, who also served as the Cardinals head coach from 1940-1942, and Buddy Parker would be retained on the coaching staff along with Phil Handler as the Cardinals would dramatically improve with a 6-5 record in 1946 (the Cardinals last winning season prior to the 1946 NFL season was in 1935).
During the next two seasons as Conzelman’s offensive assistant, Buddy Parker would be instrumental in forming the NFL’s first “Million Dollar Backfield” with future Hall of Fame running back, Charley Trippi, leading the way as the Cardinals would win back-to-back division titles in 1947 as well as 1948 and a NFL championship in 1947, which was a 28-21 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles.
But, after Conzelman unexpectedly stepped down as the Cardinals head coach following a loss to the Eagles in the 1948 NFL Championship Game, Buddy Parker and Phil Handler would lead the Cardinals to a fourth straight winning season in 1949, but Parker would resign after the season before returning to Detroit during the 1950 offseason after Lions head coach Bo McMillin hired Parker as an offensive assistant.
After a 6-6 season in 1950, Bo McMillin resigned as head coach and Lions team president, Edwin Anderson, promoted Buddy Parker as the next head coach. Inheriting a roster with several Heisman Trophy winners and future Hall of Famers including Bobby Layne, Doak Walker, Leon Hart, Lou Creekmur, and Jack Christiansen, Parker led the Lions to a 7-4-1 record in 1951 and missed the playoffs by just one game in their division (Detroit’s last winning season prior to the 1951 NFL season was in 1945).
During the following offseason, Buddy Parker started to build the Lions in his image by promoting assistant coach George Wilson as his offensive coordinator and hired former Cardinals linebacker Buster Ramsey to serve as his defensive coordinator. After acquiring future Hall of Fame defensive back Yale Lary and offensive lineman Dick Stanfel in the 1952 NFL Draft, Parker and his coaching staff were ready to make a postseason run.
After starting the season 1-2 with both losses coming to the San Francisco 49ers (including a 28-0 shutout at home in Week 3), Buddy Parker led the Lions to five straight victories while sweeping the Los Angeles Rams along with three blowout wins (a 52-17 win at the Packers in Week 5, a 31-6 victory at the Steelers in Week 7, and a 43-13 win at home against the Dallas Texans in Week 8).
But, after a one-point loss to the Chicago Bears in Week 9, Parker led the Lions to their third consecutive season sweep over the Green Bay Packers on Thanksgiving in Week 10 before getting revenge on the Bears in Week 11 with a 45-21 blowout win. However, after leading the Lions to their sixth blowout win of the season with a 41-6 victory over the Dallas Texans in Week 12, the Lions were unable to clinch the division title due to the LA Rams tying the Lions record at 9-3, which set up an additional playoff game before the NFL championship.
Playing in their first home playoff game since the 1935 NFL Championship Game, Buddy Parker led the Lions to a 31-21 victory over the defending NFL champions with three rushing touchdowns from his offense while the Lions defense forced three Rams turnovers as Detroit advanced to the NFL Championship Game for the first time in 17 years.
In the NFL Championship Game the following week, Buddy Parker returned the city of Detroit to prominence with a late Christmas gift as the Lions defeated the Cleveland Browns by the score of 17-7, three days after Christmas. After beating the Browns by the score of 17-6 in Week 6, the Lions defense forced two turnovers while Bobby Layne and Doak Walker scored two rushing touchdowns in the game as Buddy Parker won his third NFL Championship of his career while restoring the Lions roar in the city of Detroit (Parker would win another NFL championship the following year with the Lions and he would finish his career with four NFL championship titles; one as a player with the Lions, one as an assistant coach with the Cardinals, and two as the head coach of the Lions).
1952 LIONS OFFENSE
Pro Bowl Selections: QB Bobby Layne (All-Pro), HB Bob Hoernschemeyer, FB/K Pat Harder, WR Cloyce Box (All-Pro), OT Lou Creekmur (All-Pro)
Strengths: Balanced offense as well as the receiving duo of Cloyce Box and Leon Hart. After averaging less than 20 points/game per year from 1945-1949, Buddy Parker began to revolutionize the Lions offensive attack upon his arrival in 1950 and produced three consecutive seasons of averaging at least 25 points/game per season from 1950-1952 (the Lions averaged 16.7 points/game during the 1948 NFL season and four years later, the Lions averaged 28.7 points/game during their 1952 NFL championship season with the NFL’s 2nd ranked scoring offense).
But, after finishing with one of the NFL’s worst rushing attacks in 1950 despite Doak Walker earning Pro Bowl and All-Pro honors, Buddy Parker added a third running back, Pat Harder (who also was a member of the “Million Dollar Backfield” when Parker was an assistant coach with the Chicago Cardinals), to form a three-headed backfield that allowed Bob Hoernschemeyer to earn Pro Bowl honors in 1951 as well as 1952 while Doak Walker earned All-Pro/Pro Bowl honors for the second straight season (the Lions had the NFL’s 11th ranked rushing offense in 1950 and finished with the league’s 4th ranked rushing offense in 1952).
However, while the Lions running game was slowly improving, Buddy Parker began to form a unique receiving tandem with two future All-Pro receivers in Cloyce Box and Heisman Trophy winner Leon Hart. Despite Hart’s struggles in 1950 as the NFL’s #1 draft pick, Cloyce Box took advantage of Parker’s offensive strategy and developed a strong chemistry with Bobby Layne as Box set a new team record with 11 receiving TD’s along with 1,009 receiving yards while earning Pro Bowl honors (Detroit would not have another 1,000+ yard receiver until Terry Barr became the first receiver in Lions history to record back-to-back 1,000+ yard seasons in 1963 and 1964).
But, after Box was called into military service in 1951, Leon Hart would break Cloyce Box’s receiving TD record by scoring 12 receiving TD’s during the 1951 NFL season while earning Pro Bowl and All-Pro honors (Bobby Layne also led the league in passing yards in 1950 and 1951 as well). With Box’s return in 1952 after a year in Korea, Buddy Parker would take advantage as Bobby Layne would complete 14 of his 19 passing TD’s to Cloyce Box and Leon Hart during the 1952 NFL season while Box would break Hart’s receiving TD record from the previous season by scoring 15 receiving TD’s during Detroit’s run to the NFL championship (Cloyce Box’s 15 receiving TD’s in 1952 would remain as a Lions team record for 59 years before it was broken by Calvin Johnson in 2011 when he scored 16 receiving TD’s).
Weaknesses: Turnovers and running back depth. Despite finishing with the NFL’s 4th ranked passing attack and 4th ranked rushing attack in 1952, the Lions struggled with turnovers during the regular season, even though they lost only 10 fumbles during the year (best in the NFL). But, Buddy Parker’s quarterbacks, Bobby Layne as well as his backup Jim Hardy, threw 25 of the team’s 28 interceptions (10th in the NFL) and Layne also threw four interceptions in the divisional round playoff win against the Rams (the Lions also committed at least two turnovers in 12 of their 14 games; they did not commit a turnover in their Week 7 win vs. Pittsburgh and their NFL championship victory vs. Cleveland with only 129 combined passing yards and 520 combined rushing yards during those two games).
But, despite significant improvement in their running game during the regular season, the Lions had to adjust their running game due to injuries to Pat Harder and Doak Walker in 1952 after Detroit’s three-headed rushing attack combined for 2,291 scrimmage yards as well as 19 offensive TD’s in 1951 (Hoernschemeyer, Walker, and Harder each had at least 100 touches in 1951 as well). Due to Harder’s and Walker’s injuries in 1952, Hoernschemeyer emerged as the Lions lead running back with four rushing TD’s along with 596 scrimmage yards during the regular season while Bobby Layne finished as Detroit’s second leading rusher with a career high 94 carries for 411 rushing yards (Harder was the Lions third leading rusher with a career low 95 touches for 386 scrimmage yards while scoring three offensive TD’s and Walker only started a career low four games).
1952 LIONS DEFENSE/SPECIAL TEAMS
Pro Bowl Selections: DT Thurman McGraw (only All-Pro), DB Jack Christiansen (only All-Pro, special teams), DB Don Doll, DB/P Bob Smith
Strengths: Rushing defense and takeaways. After finishing with the NFL’s #1 rushing defense in 1950, the Lions finished with a top 5 rushing defense in 1951 prior to Buster Ramsey’s arrival in 1952. In Ramsey’s first season in Detroit, the Lions repeated their defensive success in 1950 by finishing with the NFL’s #1 rushing defense while allowing a league low eight rushing TD’s and allowed 16.0 points/game (1st in the NFL).
In addition to committing the 2nd fewest penalties in the NFL in 1952 (62 penalties), Ramsey’s defense also forced the most turnovers in the league with 57 takeaways including 32 interceptions and 25 fumble recoveries (2nd in Int’s; 2nd in fumble recoveries) during the regular season in similarity to the 1950 Lions defense when they led the NFL with 55 takeaways. Even with two rookie starters in his secondary unit (Jim David, a 22nd round draft pick in the 1952 NFL Draft, and future Hall of Fame defensive back Yale Lary, a 3rd round draft pick in the 1952 NFL Draft),
Ramsey’s defense also held opposing quarterbacks to a passer rating of 46.4 during the regular season (2nd in the NFL).
Weaknesses: Passing defense and overall special teams. Despite their defensive success in the running game and forcing turnovers, Buster Ramsey had some struggles with the Lions passing defense in his first season as Detroit’s defensive coordinator in 1952. With the Lions passing defense ranked 10th in the league, Ramsey struggled to limit opposing passing attacks despite forcing the most turnovers as Detroit allowed the most pass completions of any team in the NFL and struggled with pressuring opposing quarterbacks as the Lions finished with 40 sacks during the regular season (7th in the NFL).
Along with their struggles with their passing defense, the Lions also had some issues with their special teams during the 1952 NFL season despite an impressive duo of return specialists. After returning four punts for touchdowns in his rookie season in 1951, Jack Christiansen led the NFL with two punt return TD’s in 1952 and led the NFL with a 21.5 yards/punt return average while rookie Yale Lary split return duties with Christiansen and returned a punt for a touchdown in Week 8 (Doak Walker split return duties with Jack Christiansen during the 1951 NFL season).
But, along with replacing Doak Walker’s role as a return specialist, Buddy Parker also had to replace Walker’s role as Detroit’s primary kicker with Pat Harder, who also played as a kicker with the Chicago Cardinals from 1947-1950 and saw limited action as a kicker in 1951 (Walker’s longest made field goal in 1951 was from 23 yards (6 out of 12 FG’s in total) and Harder made 3 out of 5 FG’s in limited action, but made one of his field goals from 43 yards).
However, Harder struggled in his expanded role during the 1952 season by making 11 out of 23 FG’s, but made 34 out of 35 XP’s while defensive back Bob Smith, who also served as the Lions primary punter, had a career year with a yards/punt average of 44.7 yards/punt (2nd in the NFL) while contributing with a team high nine interceptions on Detroit’s defense.
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