1975 Detroit Lions season

The 1975 Detroit Lions season was the 46th season in franchise history. It was the first season for the Detroit Lions at the new Pontiac Metropolitan Stadium in Pontiac, a Detroit suburb, which was built specifically for the team. It was also their first ever season outside Detroit since the franchise's move and name change in 1934; its first three seasons were played in Portsmouth, Ohio as the Portsmouth Spartans. For the seventh consecutive season, the Lions finished the season in second place.

1975 Detroit Lions season
Owner	William Clay Ford Sr.
Head coach	Rick Forzano
Home field	Pontiac Metropolitan Stadium
Results
Record	7–7
Division place	2nd NFC Central
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
Pro Bowlers	2 TE Charlie Sanders CB Lem Barney
AP All-Pros	None

NFL Draft

Main article: 1975 NFL Draft

1975 Detroit Lions draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
1	13	Lynn Boden	G	South Dakota State
2	38	Doug English *	DT	Texas
4	94	Craig Hertwig	OT	Georgia
6	138	Fred Cooper	DB	Purdue	from New Orleans
6	141	Horace King	RB	Georgia	from New England
6	144	Dennis Franklin	WR	Michigan
7	169	Mike Murphy	WR	Drake
8	194	Leonard Thompson	RB	Oklahoma State
9	219	Steve Strinko	LB	Michigan
10	250	Brad Boyd	TE	LSU
11	275	Steve Myers	G	Ohio State
12	300	Andre Roundtree	LB	Iowa State
13	325	James Smith	RB	North Carolina Central
14	350	Jim McMillan	QB	Widener
15	375	Rudy Green	RB	Yale
16	406	Les Chaves	DB	Kansas State
17	431	Mark Lancaster	G	Tulsa
Made roster    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Notes

• Detroit traded its third-round pick (91st) to Minnesota in exchange for S Charlie West.
• Detroit traded its fifth-round pick (119th) to Cleveland in exchange for CB Ben Davis.
• Detroit traded TE Dave Thompson and its first-round pick (13th) in 1974 to New Orleans in exchange for the Saints' first-round pick (8th) in 1974 and sixth-round pick (138th) in this draft.
• Detroit traded FB Leon Crosswhite to New England in exchange for the Patriots' sixth-round pick (141st) and eighth-round pick in 1976.
• Detroit traded LB Jim Teal to Los Angeles in exchange for the Rams' ninth-round pick (229th), and then traded this pick to Denver in exchange for CB Leroy Mitchell.

Roster

Detroit Lions roster
Quarterbacks 10 Jack Concannon 11 Greg Landry 14 Joe Reed Running backs 24 Dexter Bussey FB 30 Jim Hooks FB 42 Altie Taylor 33 Bobby Thompson Wide receivers 48 Marlin Briscoe 44 George Farmer 89 Dennis Franklin 45 Ray Jarvis 39 Leonard Thompson 49 Larry Walton Tight ends 81 John McMakin 88 Charlie Sanders	Offensive linemen 62 Lynn Boden G -- Guy Dennis G 76 Rocky Freitas T 71 Craig Hertwig T 60 R. W. Hicks C 66 Bob Kowalkowski G 63 Jon Morris C 75 Jim Yarbrough T Defensive linemen 78 Doug English DT 70 Billy Howard DE 83 Jim Mitchell DE 80 Herb Orvis DT 82 Ken Sanders DE		Linebackers 51 Larry Ball 58 Mike Hennigan 52 Jim Laslavic 60 Paul Naumoff 55 Ed O'Neil 59 Charlie Weaver Defensive backs 20 Lem Barney CB 29 Ben Davis 32 Lenny Dunlap 26 Dick Jauron FS 23 Levi Johnson CB 28 Mike Weger 40 Charlie West SS Special teams 12 Errol Mann K 15 Alan Pringle K 18 Herman Weaver P		Reserve lists 64 Gordon Jolley G (IRTooltip Injured reserve) -- Steve Strinko LB (IRTooltip Injured reserve) rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
1	September 21	at Green Bay Packers	W 30–16	1–0	Milwaukee County Stadium	52,613
2	September 28	at Atlanta Falcons	W 17–14	2–0	Atlanta Fulton County Stadium	45,218
3	October 6	Dallas Cowboys	L 10–36	2–1	Pontiac Metropolitan Stadium	79,384
4	October 12	Chicago Bears	W 27–7	3–1	Pontiac Metropolitan Stadium	74,032
5	October 19	at Minnesota Vikings	L 19–25	3–2	Metropolitan Stadium	47,872
6	October 26	at Houston Oilers	L 8–24	3–3	Astrodome	46,904
7	November 2	at San Francisco 49ers	W 28–17	4–3	Candlestick Park	43,209
8	November 9	Cleveland Browns	W 21–10	5–3	Pontiac Metropolitan Stadium	75,283
9	November 16	Green Bay Packers	W 13–10	6–3	Pontiac Metropolitan Stadium	76,946
10	November 23	at Kansas City Chiefs	L 21–24(OT)	6–4	Arrowhead Stadium	55,161
11	November 27	Los Angeles Rams	L 0–20	6–5	Pontiac Metropolitan Stadium	69,552
12	December 7	at Chicago Bears	L 21–25	6–6	Soldier Field	37,772
13	December 14	Minnesota Vikings	W 17–10	7–6	Pontiac Metropolitan Stadium	73,130
14	December 21	St. Louis Cardinals	L 13–24	7–7	Pontiac Metropolitan Stadium	64,656

• Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 2

1 2 3 4 Total • Lions 0 7 3 7 17 Falcons 0 7 7 0 14 Date: September 28 Location: Atlanta Stadium, Atlanta Game start: 1:00 p.m. Game weather: 62 °F or 16.7 °C, wind 9 miles per hour (14 km/h; 7.8 kn)

Scoring summary 2 ATL Haskel Stanback 17 yard run (Nick Mike-Mayer kick) Falcons 7–0 2 DET Horace King 5 yard run (Errol Mann kick) Tie 7–7 3 ATL Gerald Tinker 26 yard pass from Steve Bartkowski (Nick Mike-Mayer kick) Falcons 14–7 3 DET Errol Mann 29 yard field goal Falcons 14–10 4 DET Altie Taylor 1 yard run (Errol Mann kick) Lions 17–14

Standings

NFC Central
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Minnesota Vikings(1)	12	2	0	.857	5–1	8–2	377	180	W1
Detroit Lions	7	7	0	.500	4–2	6–5	245	262	L1
Chicago Bears	4	10	0	.286	2–4	4–7	191	379	W1
Green Bay Packers	4	10	0	.286	1–5	4–7	226	285	W1

References

• Detroit Lions on Pro Football Reference
• Detroit Lions on jt-sw.com
• Detroit Lions on The Football Database