1966 Detroit Lions season

1966 Detroit Lions season
Head coach	Harry Gilmer
Home field	Tiger Stadium
Results
Record	4–9–1
Division place	6th NFL Western
Playoff finish	did not qualify

The 1966 Detroit Lions season was their 37th in the league. The team failed to improve on their previous season's output of 6–7–1, winning only four games.^[1] They missed the playoffs for the ninth straight season and incurred their second losing record in a row.

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Attendance
1	September 11	Chicago Bears	W 14–3	1–0	52,225
2	September 18	at Pittsburgh Steelers	L 17–3	1–1	35,473
3	September 25	Atlanta Falcons	W 28–10	2–1	47,615
4	October 2	at Green Bay Packers	L 23–14	2–2	50,861
5	October 9	Los Angeles Rams	L 14–7	2–3	52,793
6	October 16	at Baltimore Colts	L 45–14	2–4	60,238
7	October 23	at San Francisco 49ers	L 27–24	2–5	36,745
8	October 30	Green Bay Packers	L 31–7	2–6	56,954
9	November 6	at Chicago Bears	T 10–10	2–6–1	47,041
10	November 13	at Minnesota Vikings	W 32–31	3–6–1	43,939
11	November 20	Baltimore Colts	W 20–14	4–6–1	52,383
12	November 24	San Francisco 49ers	L 41–14	4–7–1	53,189
13	December 4	at Los Angeles Rams	L 23–3	4–8–1	40,039
14	December 11	Minnesota Vikings	L 28–16	4–9–1	43,022
15	December 18	Bye

• A bye week was necessary in 1966, as the league expanded to an odd-number (15) of teams (Atlanta); one team was idle each week.

Game summaries

Week 1

1 2 3 4 Total Bears 3 0 0 0 3 • Lions 0 14 0 0 14 Date: September 11 Location: Tiger Stadium, Detroit, MI Game weather: 67 °F (19 °C); wind 7 mph (11 km/h)

Scoring summary Q1 CHI LeClerc 38 yard field goal CHI 3–0 Q2 DET Nowatzke 6 yard run (Walker kick) DET 7–3 Q2 DET Studstill 25 yard pass from Plum (Walker kick) DET 14–3

^[2]

Standings

NFL Western Conference
	W	L	T	PCT	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Green Bay Packers	12	2	0	.857	10–2	335	163	W5
Baltimore Colts	9	5	0	.643	7–5	314	226	W1
Los Angeles Rams	8	6	0	.571	6–6	289	212	L1
San Francisco 49ers	6	6	2	.500	5–5–2	320	325	L1
Chicago Bears	5	7	2	.417	4–6–2	234	272	W1
Detroit Lions	4	9	1	.308	3–8–1	206	317	L3
Minnesota Vikings	4	9	1	.308	4–7–1	206	304	L1

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

References

1. 1966 Detroit Lions
2. Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2014-Sep-15.