Photo by Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images Actor and Detroit Lions fan Jeff Daniels performed his original song “The Curse of Bobby Layne” on “The Tonight Show” this week. On Tuesday night’s “The Tonight Show” with Jimmy Fallon, Detroit native and lifelong Detroit Lions fan Jeff Daniels made an appearance and introduced the national audience to a history lesson on the Lions. Daniels grabbed his guitar and performed an original song called “The Curse of Bobby Layne.” To the uninitiated, the curse dates back to the 1950s. The Lions traded for Layne in 1950, and the Hall of Fame quarterback helped lead the Lions to three championships in 1952, 1953, and their most recent one in 1957—although he broke his leg prior to the championship game in 1957. Just a couple games into the following season, the Lions traded Layne to the Steelers. While never fully confirmed, legend has it that after the trade Layne said, “The Lions won’t win for the next 50 years.” Whether true or not, the Lions did not win for the next 50 years. In fact, on the 50th year of the curse, the Lions became the first team to go 0-16 in NFL history. Daniels forever tied himself to the curse by joining up with NFL legend Peyton Manning to break the curse during an episode of Manning’s online series “Peyton’s Places.” In the series, aired in the middle of 2022, Daniels recited a hex-breaking spell to a bathtub filled with whiskey—“Bobby Layne would’ve preferred that (to water),” Manning said. Since the show first aired on October 30, 2022, the Lions have been on fire. Detroit was 1-6 at the time of airing but went on to win eight of their next 10 games. In fact, since airing, the Lions are 35-9 in the regular season, setting several franchise records, including postseason wins since the Super Bowl era. Now they have the NFC’s top seed for the first time ever and are favorites to win the Super Bowl—a game they’ve never even appeared in. So Daniels took to the national stage, and told the story of “The Curse of Bobby Layne.” Enjoy: Jeff Daniels breaks out the guitar to sing a song about The Curse of Bobby Layne on the @Lions! #FallonTonight pic.twitter.com/begn1fBLf6— The Tonight Show (@FallonTonight) January 15, 2025 You can watch Daniels’ full appearance on the show here.