Oral history of Detroit Lions’ last division title 30 years ago

DETROIT — Christmas arrived a day early as Detroit Lions players celebrated clinching their first division title in 30 years after a 30-24 win at the Minnesota Vikings on Dec. 24.

Inside the visitors locker room, players slipped on their NFC North Division championship gear while jamming to Lil Yachty’s “Minnesota.”

Coach Dan Campbell addressed the team with an emotional speech, calling the “old guard” of veterans — Taylor Decker, Frank Ragnow, Jalen Reeves-Maybin and Tracy Walker — to the front to be celebrated for sticking around through some tough times for the franchise to reach this moment.

“Whenever you do something like we just did, it’s special,” Campbell told the team. “It don’t matter, man. And it don’t matter how many you win in a row. They’re special. But I can tell you this, when you’re part of an organization and it’s been thirty years since we won a championship, it’s special, man. And these guys have been dying for it.”

Before that Dec. 24 party at U.S. Bank Stadium, the Lions had gone 29 seasons between division titles — the third-longest drought since the 1970 merger. The last team to do it, the 1993 Lions, finished 10-6 and clinched the now defunct NFC Central division in the final week of the regular season with a win over the Green Bay Packers on Jan. 2, 1994.

Though many years have passed since then, the memories remain fresh to those who lived them. Here is the story of that season.

During the 1991 season, the Lions rallied behind offensive lineman Mike Utley, who was paralyzed by a spinal cord injury suffered in a Week 12 game against the Los Angeles Rams. The Lions won their division with a 12-4 record but lost to Washington in the NFC Championship Game. The following training camp, offensive guard Eric Andolsek was killed when he was struck by a semitruck that ran off the road into the front yard of his Louisiana home. Detroit finished the 1992 season 5-11, so 1993 was supposed to be a “rebuilding” year, according to Lions center Kevin Glover.

Lomas Brown, Lions offensive lineman: [The 1993 season] was almost kind of a relief. As you remember in 1991, they said it was us and Dallas [picked to top the NFC]. And of course, Utley’s injury and Eric Andolsek getting killed that offseason that just kind of changed everything and for us to take the big dip that we took in 1992, but to kind of rebound in 1993, I think it showed resilience from the guys that we had, and it also showed character, too.

Barry Sanders, Lions running back: We were fortunate to be able to have a group of guys who wanted to establish a winner in Detroit, and we were able to do it that season. It’s hard to believe it’s actually been that long.

Chris Spielman, Lions linebacker: We had really good players. I mean really good players, and it’s unfortunate because I actually think that that 1993 was better than that 1991 team that went to the NFC Championship Game, but that 1991 team had that bond that carried us almost to the top, but that 1993 team was pretty good, man. Maybe one of the better teams that I’ve ever played on to be honest with you.

The defending Super Bowl champion Cowboys and the Lions played a preseason exhibition in London’s Wembley Stadium in what was billed as the eighth American Bowl game. The game finished 13-13, but the Lions said matching up against the league’s best team helped set the tone for the season.

Bill Keenist, former Lions public relations director: We had a preseason game in London that August against the Cowboys, and I will contend that it was a great bonding experience for the team because we were over there for basically an entire week.

Kevin Glover, Lions center: That trip was very telling for us also. Dallas had done really well. We had beat them the year before, they had won the Super Bowl, and here we are heading into the year after and we actually practiced against them for a week in London and it was a good telling tale for us of what type of program they were and how special they were and the championship personnel they had built. But we really felt like we could compete with them and we laid it all on the line that year.

Already respected as one of the top running backs of his generation, Sanders’ humility was one of his defining traits. By 1993, the 25-year-old running back had been selected to four Pro Bowls and named first-team AP All-Pro three times. But he often shied away from the national spotlight, preferring to keep a low profile — which often worked considering he was just 5-foot-8.

Mike O’Hara, former Lions beat writer for The Detroit News: We all had these pins, and you wear them up on your shirt. These would allow you to go to the head of the line [at the Hard Rock Cafe] … but Curt Sylvester, who worked for the Detroit Free Press at time, and I, with a couple of other guys, were in line, and I looked back there and there’s Barry just standing. He had his pin and he’s just standing in line. … But that was Barry, he was and is different. He doesn’t have to prove he’s a star, because he is a star.

Keenist: That was Barry. And I think the anonymity in some respects that he had. He was not a small person; he was just short. He was 5-8, 5-9 and he could blend in perhaps, and he enjoyed that. And then you want to go full circle, however many years later, where did he go when he retired? London.

Glover: Here he is the most talented guy in the city or in the country, and this guy is standing in line. That’s Barry. He wanted to be treated like everybody else.

Sanders: When I stepped on the field. I was about competing on the highest level. I took great pride in that and because of that, I tried to be careful what I did off the field, and I think the two go hand in hand. At least, that was my philosophy and the way I approached it. I was really just humbled by the reception and the support of Lions fans and just their excitement about the game. One thing I learned just being here is this is a football town. And they are Lions fanatics, and they just want to see guys get on the field and give their all and bring a winner.

Detroit used that momentum from the preseason to start 7-2 before losing three in a row. After a 13-0 Week 14 loss to the Vikings, coach Wayne Fontes fired offensive coordinator Dan Henning, replaced him with assistant coach Dave Levy and elevated third-string QB Erik Kramer to start in place of Rodney Peete, who was sacked seven times and threw four interceptions against Minnesota.

However, Sanders injured his left knee in the Thanksgiving loss to the Chicago Bears and missed the final five games of the regular season.

Erik Kramer, Lions quarterback: As a team, we had grown to learn that things happen, and decisions get made that might not be in the best interest of the team. Personally, I didn’t think that releasing Dan Henning was the issue, but in any event that is what happened and so, I think as a group of players, we just rallied around each other.

Herman Moore, Lions wide receiver: A lot of us had mixed reactions on coach Henning getting fired because he was a good guy. I liked coach Henning personally, and he was actually a really good mentor for me during that time because he had worked with other players before in some top systems [and] he brought a wealth of knowledge … but sometimes you have to make changes.

Kramer: I remember when I got the opportunity to play that nothing really changed, but I definitely made sure that I was prepared a lot. We didn’t have laptops to take home and watch video, so I basically stayed at the practice facility around the clock. Like anything, preparation is the key to anybody’s success. … One of the games we lost bad was against the 49ers, and they rolled in and got off the bus and scored five touchdowns. … So, I ended up putting a few of their pass plays in, which I then came to run in Chicago.

Fontes, Lions head coach: Erik Kramer was great. We had a good team. Erik was a superstar; we couldn’t ask for a better guy under the center. We still had our good offensive line with Lomas Brown and the guys and Kevin Glover. We were still a pretty good football team, but we just didn’t have enough firepower to win it all, but I enjoyed it.

Three different quarterbacks started for the team (Peete, Kramer and Andre Ware), combining for 15 passing touchdowns and 19 interceptions.

Sanders rushed for 1,115 yards in 11 games and had three rushing touchdowns. He was injured/inactive for the final five games of the regular season but returned for the playoff game and rushed for 169 yards in the loss.

Moore led the team with 61 receptions, 935 yards and 6 receiving touchdowns.

Keenist: That final game of the season, we still did not have Barry and it was essentially a playoff game because whoever would win that game would host the playoffs the following week, and we beat the Packers.

Eric Lynch, running back from Grand Valley State, had a big day, had [almost] 100 yards and we won that like 30-20 and the Silverdome was rocking. … Then we played the Packers the next weekend [in the playoffs] and unfortunately, that’s always referred to as ‘The Sterling Sharpe Game.’ Barry did come back for that game and had a monster game of [169] yards rushing.

Detroit lost to the Packers in the NFC wild-card game at the Pontiac Silverdome after a game-sealing touchdown pass from Brett Favre to Sterling Sharpe. With about a minute left, Favre rolled to his left and threw the ball across the field to a wide-open Sharpe streaking down the right sideline as the Packers won 28-24.

George Koonce, Green Bay Packers linebacker: It was a grueling divisional season because over half the division made the playoffs: Lions, Packers and Vikings, and Detroit earned the division title. We played them in Week 12 and Week 18 and the first round of the playoffs. Three times in six weeks.

LeRoy Butler, Packers safety: Erik Kramer is not a quarterback that people are going to bring up in the barbershop. [He] was very efficient. But in our locker room, we talked about being able to — in this ’90s era — we’re going to have to contend with Barry Sanders. I said we’ve got to pay attention to this team and not believe all of this negative losing stuff that people were saying, but it was a team that we very well respected.

Glover: Unfortunately we got caught by two of the greatest in the business, so it’s no shame in it when you put in Favre and Sharpe. I mean, they made a great play, it was a great throw. That ball looked like it hung in the air for about 30 seconds, man. We were kind of watching it like ‘C’mon, man, where’s gravity?’ But we couldn’t be mad.

Kramer: I remember going back in the locker room in the equipment area and sitting up on one of those big cases and just crying, thinking that ‘I can’t believe we just lost this game.’ No, I did not think that it would be the last time [that Detroit would win a division title]. So, I’m very happy [about] this year’s Lions and the direction they’re headed.

Butler: That game changed our life. It really did. The Brett Favre throw to Sterling Sharpe. I can’t even tell you the immense just respect that we had for Detroit, but we were shocked that Sterling was so wide open, and Brett was the only QB in NFL history that would even think about making that throw. … It just kind of catapulted us into the national conversation as a team to contend with. So, Detroit was a big part of that.

Since the inception of the Lions’ ring of honor in 2009, the organization has inducted 20 players. But some of the former players would like to see more of the franchise’s history preserved. Moore is chief among them and said the 1993 team should be recognized somewhere at Ford Field.

Moore: We think that celebrating the players and the history of what has happened is a way of bringing up bad or you need to move on past it. But, when I go to visit the New York Giants or I go visit Pittsburgh and I go there all the time, they make sure you remember their history of the legends that have come there, and that builds culture in remembrance of what it means to be great and what greatness looks like.

We don’t understand that that’s what you really need to have, otherwise it looks like you’ve just been very dismal and just broken, but I go, “No, that hasn’t been the case.’

Glover: As an alumni, we’re all extremely excited about where the Lions are now and how management has built this program and they’re exciting to watch. It’s been a long time. …This is a whole new era and they’re doing their thing and it’s exciting. It’s so much buzz around the city that it’s going to be almost impossible for some of us to get tickets to go back, but just to see them play would be exciting.