Detroit Lions Thanksgiving Moon Curse is the Strangest Hex in Football
The Detroit Lions magical 2023 campaign lost a little magic on Thanksgiving Day with a loss to division rival Green Bay.
The loss, if you follow superstition, was foretold by the phase of the moon.
Detroit Lions + Thanksgiving + Waxing Gibbous
Call this the most strange stat and one you've likely never heard before today. The Detroit Lions, when playing on Thanksgiving were, going into the 2023 game 0-12 when the moon was in the waxing gibbous phase.
The 2023 game saw the moon again in the waxing gibbous and wouldn't you know it, the lunar curse struck the Lions to make the team no 0-13 (a not-so-lucky number) on Thanksgiving in that moon phase.
Stat head Jay Cuda posted the oddity the day before Thanksgiving.
So it wasn't the Same Old Lions, it was the Same Old Moon that got em. They say the moon's a harsh mistress and for Coach Campbell and the Lions, it certainly was.
Just the week before, the Lions were on the positive side of another odd NFL stat. In beating the Bears, they became the first team in history to win while being -3 in turnovers and less than 20 minutes time of possession.
Understanding the Waxing Gibbous Moon
If you're not a moon nerd, a waxing gibbous, according to TimeAndDate:
The Waxing Gibbous phase is when the lit-up part of the Moon grows from 50.1% to 99.9%. It starts just after the First Quarter Moon and lasts until the Full Moon.
Waxing means that it is getting bigger, while gibbous refers to the oval-to-round shape.
For November 2023, the moon was in this phase between the 20th and the 27th.
Here's a waxing gibbous in action, far from Detroit on Folly Beach in South Carolina.
If you think there may just be something to the moon, the weather and the heavens, check out these maybe not so far fetched facts:
