1991 Detroit Lions season

1991 Detroit Lions season
Head coach	Wayne Fontes
General manager	Chuck Schmidt
Owner	William Clay Ford, Sr.
Home field	Pontiac Silverdome
Results
Record	12–4
Division place	1st NFC Central
Playoff finish	Won Divisional Playoffs (Cowboys) 38–6 Lost NFC Championship (Redskins) 41–10

The 1991 Detroit Lions season was the franchise's 62nd season in the National Football League, their 58th as the Detroit Lions.

The team finished 12–4, win the NFC Central Division, and appear in the playoffs for the first time since 1983. It stands as the team's best season since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970. The Lions finished the season undefeated in the Pontiac Silverdome, including playoffs, and the team did not lose a game at an indoor facility the entire season, having made trips to Indianapolis and Minnesota during the year.

This season also saw the Lions debut of wide receiver Herman Moore, the team's 1991 first round draft pick who went on to set records as part of an explosive passing offense later in the decade. This was the last season until 2015 in which the Lions won at Green Bay.

The season

Statistics site Football Outsiders summed up Detroit's season thusly:^[1] "The Lions were one of the most inconsistent teams of the year, which is what happens when you win 12 games but lose 45–0 (to Washington) and 35–3 (to San Francisco). Otherwise, it's a little hard to tell why they ended up only 17th in [efficiency]. The Lions didn't have too many super-close victories, but did go 4–0 in games decided by a touchdown or less. They didn't particularly take advantage of long plays ... with only four gains of 50 yards or more. They did benefit a little extra from fumbles on defense, recovering 15 of 23. They also benefitted from poor opponent special teams...."

Detroit, according to Football Outsiders, had "a bit of an odd schedule; on the surface, it doesn't look like Detroit's schedule of opposing run defenses was that easy. The Lions missed the [league-leading] Eagles, but they did have to play six games against the teams ranked sixth through ninth in run defense [efficiency]: San Francisco, Chicago, Washington, and Green Bay. Except running back Barry Sanders didn't play against Washington in Week 1, and he had only seven carries against San Francisco in Week 8. His two highest-carry games came against the two worst run defenses in the league, Miami and Indianapolis."

Season summary

The Lions were plagued by injuries most of the season. Wide receiver Aubrey Matthews was lost for the season to a knee injury on a meaningless final play during a 45-0 loss to the Washington Redskins during Week 1. Starting quarterback Rodney Peete was lost for the season in the 9th game of the year, a 34–10 victory over the Dallas Cowboys. Second string quarterback Erik Kramer, who had won the backup quarterback job from Andre Ware (the team's #1 draft pick from the season before) during training camp, guided the team the rest of the way. Although Peete's injury was serious, perhaps the most devastating injury was the career-ending injury that befell guard Mike Utley in a Week 12 game against the Los Angeles Rams. Utley suffered a severe injury to two of his cervical vertebrae, rendering him paralyzed from the chest down and ending his career. Unaware of this, Utley gave a thumbs-up gesture to the crowd as he was being wheeled from the field. For the rest of the season Lions players wore a decal with Utley's number 60 on their helmets to honor their fallen teammate.

Utley's injury gave inspiration to a team that at that point in the season was struggling, and the team won its last six games to steal the division title away from the Chicago Bears, whose Week 17 loss to the San Francisco 49ers left them a game behind the Lions who did not lose a game the rest of the season following Utley's injury. By winning the division and having one of the two best records in the conference, the Lions earned a bye into the divisional round. There they faced Dallas, who had beaten the Bears the week before to get their first playoff win since 1982. Although the Cowboys held Lions' star running back Barry Sanders in check for most of the game, Kramer threw for 341 yards and three touchdowns and Sanders closed the scoring with a 47-yard touchdown run for a 38–6 drubbing of Dallas. It is the Lions' only postseason victory since they won their last league championship in 1957.

The win earned the Lions a return trip to Washington for the NFC Championship Game and a chance to avenge the 45–0 defeat in the season opener. The Redskins jumped to an early 10–0 lead when Kramer was sacked and fumbled on the Lions' first possession, then was intercepted on the second. The Lions fought back with a touchdown pass to receiver Willie Green and a field goal by kicker Eddie Murray in the second quarter to stay within one score at the half. The Lions trailed 17–10 at the break, but failed to score again as Washington scored 24 points in the second half to put the game away. Ware replaced Kramer as quarterback in the fourth quarter. He promptly threw an interception which was returned by Darrell Green for the game's final touchdown. The 1991 Lions' season thus ended the way it started, with a loss to the Redskins at RFK Stadium; the final in this game was 41–10 in favor of the eventual Super Bowl champions.

The Lions finished the season with a 9–0 record at home, counting their playoff win. The team did not play particularly well on the road: outside of their wins at Indianapolis and Minnesota, their only other outdoor wins came against the Green Bay Packers in Week 16 (the Lions' last road victory against Green Bay until 2015) and the eventual AFC Champion Buffalo Bills in Week 17; the margin of victory in those games were four and three points respectively and the Lions gave up 30 or more points in three of their four road losses, two of which came to teams that failed to qualify for the playoffs (San Francisco 49ers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers).

Offseason

NFL Draft

1991 Detroit Lions draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
1	10	Herman Moore *	Wide receiver	Virginia
3	58	Reggie Barrett	Wide Receiver	Texas-El Paso
4	91	Kevin Scott	Defensive Back	Stanford
5	118	Scott Conover	OT	Purdue
6	151	Richie Andrews	K	Florida State
7	178	Franklin Thomas	TE	Grambling State
8	205	Cedric Jackson	RB	TCU
9	231	Darryl Milburn	DE	Grambling State
11	285	Slip Watkins		LSU
12	318	Zeno Alexander		Arizona
Made roster    †   Pro Football Hall of Fame    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

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Personnel

Staff

1991 Detroit Lions staff
	Front office Owner and President – William Clay Ford, Sr. Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer – Chuck Schmidt Treasurer – William Clay Ford, Jr. Director of Player Personnel – Ron Hughes Director of Pro Scouting – Kevin Colbert Head coaches Head Coach – Wayne Fontes Offensive coaches Offensive Coordinator – Dave Levy Quarterbacks – Raymond Berry Running Backs – Billie Matthews Receivers – Charlie Sanders Offensive Line – Jerry Wampfler			Defensive coaches Defensive Coordinator/Outside Linebackers – Woody Widenhofer Defensive Line – Lamar Leachman Inside Linebackers – Herb Paterra Defensive Backs – Len Fontes Defensive Assistant – Don Clemons Special teams coaches Special Teams – Frank Gansz Strength and conditioning Strength and Conditioning/Defensive Assistant – Bert Hill

Roster

1991 Detroit Lions final roster
	Quarterbacks 12 Erik Kramer 16 Chuck Long 11 Andre Ware 9 Rodney Peete Running backs 42 D. J. Dozier 30 Cedric Jackson 33 Don Overton 20 Barry Sanders Wide receivers 40 Reggie Barrett 82 Robert Clark 81 Mike Farr 23 Mel Gray KR/PR 86 Willie Green 83 Aubrey Matthews 84 Herman Moore 80 Brett Perriman Tight ends 89 David Little 46 Derek Tennell		Offensive linemen 65 Eric Andolsek G 66 Shawn Bouwens G 75 Lomas Brown T 76 Scott Conover T 67 Ken Dallafior G 48 Roman Fortin C 53 Kevin Glover C 77 Bubba Paris T Defensive linemen 90 Dan Owens DE 97 Jeff Hunter DE 79 Darryl Milburn NT 93 Jerry Ball NT 96 Lawrence Pete NT 94 Kelvin Pritchett DE 92 Marc Spindler DE		Linebackers 59 Anthony Bell OLB 50 Toby Caston ILB 98 Dennis Gibson ILB 99 Tracy Hayworth OLB 58 George Jamison OLB 57 Victor Jones OLB 51 Niko Noga ILB 54 Chris Spielman ILB Defensive backs 32 Bruce Alexander CB 36 Bennie Blades FS 39 Ray Crockett CB 24 Melvin Jenkins CB 38 Kevin Scott CB 21 Terry Taylor CB 25 Sheldon White CB 35 William White SS Special teams  6 Jim Arnold P  3 Eddie Murray K		Reserve lists 93 Jerry Ball NT (IR) 40 Reggie Barrett WR (IR) 87 Jeff Campbell WR (IR) 55 Mike Cofer OLB (IR) 30 Cedric Jackson RB (IR)  9 Rodney Peete QB (IR) 64 Eric Sanders T (IR) 60 Mike Utley G (IR) 26 Sean Vanhorse CB (IR) 27 Herb Welch S (IR) Practice squad 14 Greg Jones QB 43 Darrell Wallace RB/WR Rookies in italics 47 Active, 10 Inactive, 2 Practice squad

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Home Team	Away Team	Result	Score	Overall Record	Divisional Record	Attendance
1	Washington	Detroit	L	45–0	(0–1)	(0–0)	52,958
2	Detroit	Green Bay	W	23–14	(1–1)	(1–0)	43,132
3	Detroit	Miami	W	17–13	(2–1)	(1–0)	56,896
4	Indianapolis	Detroit	W	33–24	(3–1)	(1–0)	53,396
5	Detroit	Tampa Bay	W	31–3	(4–1)	(2–0)	44,479
6	Detroit	Minnesota	W	24–20	(5–1)	(3–0)	63,423
7	Bye
8	San Francisco	Detroit	L	35–3	(5–2)	(3–0)	61,240
9	Detroit	Dallas	W	34–10	(6–2)	(3–0)	74,906
10	Chicago	Detroit	L	20–10	(6–3)	(3–1)	57,281
11	Tampa Bay	Detroit	L	30–21	(6–4)	(3–2)	37,742
12	Detroit	LA Rams	W	21–10	(7–4)	(3–2)	60,873
13	Minnesota	Detroit	W	34–14	(8–4)	(4–2)	51,644
14	Detroit	Chicago	W	16–6	(9–4)	(5–2)	78,879
15	Detroit	NY Jets	W	34–20	(10–4)	(5–2)	69,304
16	Green Bay	Detroit	W	21–17	(11–4)	(6–2)	43,881
17	Buffalo	Detroit	W	17–14 (OT)	(12–4)	(6–2)	78,059

Game summaries

Week 1

1 2 3 4 Total Lions 0 0 0 0 0 • Redskins 21 14 7 3 45 Date: September 1 Location: RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C. Game start: 8:00 p.m. Game weather: 76°F; wind 15

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Week 2

1 2 3 4 Total Packers 0 7 7 0 14 • Lions 7 3 10 3 23 Date: September 8 Location: Pontiac Silverdome, Pontiac, Michigan Game start: 1:00 p.m. Game weather: Indoors (dome)

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Week 3

1 2 3 4 Total Dolphins 3 7 0 3 13 • Lions 3 7 7 0 17 Date: September 15 Location: Pontiac Silverdome, Pontiac, Michigan Game start: 1:00 p.m. Game weather: Indoors (dome)

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Week 4

1 2 3 4 Total • Lions 0 7 16 10 33 Colts 10 0 0 14 24 Date: September 22 Location: Hoosier Dome, Indianapolis, Indiana Game start: 1:00 p.m. Game weather: Indoors (dome)

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Week 5

1 2 3 4 Total Buccaneers 0 3 0 0 3 • Lions 14 7 0 10 31 Date: September 29 Location: Pontiac Silverdome, Pontiac, Michigan Game start: 1:00 p.m. Game weather: Indoors (dome)

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Week 6

1 2 3 4 Total Vikings 7 7 3 3 20 • Lions 0 3 0 21 24 Date: October 6 Location: Pontiac Silverdome, Pontiac, Michigan Game start: 1:00 p.m. Game weather: Indoors (dome)

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Week 8

1 2 3 4 Total Lions 0 3 0 0 3 • 49ers 0 21 14 0 35 Date: October 20 Location: Candlestick Park, San Francisco, California Game start: 1:00 p.m. Game weather: 69°F; wind 9

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Week 9

1 2 3 4 Total Cowboys 0 10 0 0 10 • Lions 3 7 10 14 34 Date: October 27 Location: Pontiac Silverdome, Pontiac, Michigan Game start: 4:00 p.m. Game weather: Indoors (dome)

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Week 10

1 2 3 4 Total Lions 0 10 0 0 10 • Bears 3 0 10 7 20 Date: November 3 Location: Soldier Field, Chicago Game start: 12:00 p.m. Game weather: 18°F; wind 19

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Week 11

1 2 3 4 Total Lions 7 0 7 7 21 • Buccaneers 7 16 7 0 30 Date: November 10 Location: Tampa Stadium, Tampa, Florida Game start: 1:00 p.m. Game weather: 51°F; wind 8

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Week 12

1 2 3 4 Total Rams 3 0 7 0 10 • Lions 0 7 0 14 21 Date: November 17 Location: Pontiac Silverdome, Pontiac, Michigan Game start: 4:00 p.m. Game weather: Indoors (dome)

Week 13

1 2 3 4 Total • Lions 7 3 14 10 34 Vikings 0 7 0 7 14 Date: November 24 Location: Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, Minneapolis, Minnesota Game start: 12:00 p.m. Game weather: Indoors (dome)

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Week 14

1 2 3 4 Total Bears 0 6 0 0 6 • Lions 10 0 3 3 16 Date: November 28 (Thanksgiving Day) Location: Pontiac Silverdome, Pontiac, Michigan Game start: 12:30 p.m. Game weather: Indoors (dome)

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Week 15

1 2 3 4 Total Jets 14 0 3 3 20 • Lions 14 10 10 0 34 Date: December 8 Location: Pontiac Silverdome, Pontiac, Michigan Game start: 4:00 p.m. EST Game weather: Indoors (dome)

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Week 16

Erik Kramer led the Detroit Lions to victory with 2 touchdown passes and no turnovers.^[16]

This was the last time the Lions won in Wisconsin until 2015.^[17]

1 2 3 4 Total • Lions 7 0 0 14 21 Packers 7 3 0 7 17 Date: December 15 Location: Lambeau Field, Green Bay, Wisconsin Game start: 12:00 p.m. Game weather: 10°F; wind 15

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Week 17

1 2 3 4 OT Total • Lions 0 0 0 14 3 17 Bills 0 7 0 7 0 14 Date: December 22 Location: Rich Stadium, Orchard Park, New York Game start: 1:00 p.m. Game weather: 35°F; wind 22

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Standings

NFC Central
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
^(2) Detroit Lions	12	4	0	.750	6–2	8–4	339	295	W6
^(4) Chicago Bears	11	5	0	.688	7–1	9–3	299	269	L1
Minnesota Vikings	8	8	0	.500	3–5	8–6	301	306	L1
Green Bay Packers	4	12	0	.250	3–5	3–9	273	313	W1
Tampa Bay Buccaneers	3	13	0	.188	1–7	2–10	199	365	W1

Playoffs

Divisional

1 2 3 4 Total Cowboys 3 3 0 0 6 • Lions 7 10 14 7 38 Date: January 5 Location: Pontiac Silverdome, Pontiac, Michigan Game start: 4:00 p.m. EST Game attendance: 79,835 Game weather: Indoors (dome) Referee: Gordon McCarter TV announcers (CBS): Pat Summerall and John Madden

Quarterback Erik Kramer led the Lions to their only postseason victory since 1957 by completing 29 out of 38 passes for 341 yards and 3 touchdowns. As of 2015, this is the Lions' only playoff win in 56 years.

NFC Championship

1 2 3 4 Total Lions 0 10 0 0 10 • Redskins 10 7 10 14 41 Date: January 12 Location: RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C. Game start: 4:00 p.m. EST Game attendance: 55,585 Game weather: Clear; 40°F Referee: Bob McElwee TV announcers (CBS): Pat Summerall and John Madden

The Redskins crushed the Lions, 41–10, as quarterback Mark Rypien completed 12 out of 17 passes for 228 yards and 2 touchdowns. Detroit quarterback Erik Kramer was sacked 5 times, three of them by Washington linebacker Wilber Marshall. Lions running back Barry Sanders, who rushed for 1,548 yards during the season, was held to just 44 yards on 11 carries.

Awards and honors

• Mel Gray, NFL Kickoff Return Leader
• Barry Sanders, All-Pro
• Barry Sanders, NFC Pro Bowl Selection
• Barry Sanders, Bert Bell Award^[20]

References

1. Football Outsiders: 1991 DVOA Ratings and Commentary
2. "1991 Detroit Lions Draftees". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved January 5, 2014.
3. Pro-Football-Reference.com
4. Pro-Football-Reference.com
5. Pro-Football-Reference.com
6. Pro-Football-Reference.com
7. Pro-Football-Reference.com
8. Pro-Football-Reference.com
9. Pro-Football-Reference.com
10. Pro-Football-Reference.com
11. Pro-Football-Reference.com
12. Pro-Football-Reference.com
13. Pro-Football-Reference.com
14. Pro-Football-Reference.com
15. Pro-Football-Reference.com
16. http://www.nfl.com/player/erikkramer/2501656/gamelogs?season=1991
17. Hanzus, Dan (November 15, 2015). "Lions stun Packers, break long losing skid in Green Bay". NFL.com. Retrieved November 15, 2015.
18. Pro-Football-Reference.com
19. Pro-Football-Reference.com
20. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-06-19. Retrieved 2012-08-03.

External links

• 1991 Detroit Lions at Pro-Football-Reference.com