1969 Detroit Lions season

The 1969 Detroit Lions season was the 40th season in franchise history. The Lions enjoyed their best season in seven years, and their first winning campaign since 1964 by finishing in second place in the NFL Central Division with a solid 9–4–1 record led by a stingy defense that only allowed 188 total points on the season. However, the Lions still failed to qualify for the postseason for the 12th straight season. The Lions were the only team to lose to the Pittsburgh Steelers, doing so in week 1 of the season. Pittsburgh lost their remaining 13 games. The loss to the Steelers proved costly to the Lions as it served as a big blow to their playoff hopes.

1969 Detroit Lions season
Head coach	Joe Schmidt
Home field	Tiger Stadium
Results
Record	9–4–1
Division place	2nd NFL Central
Playoff finish	Did not qualify

Offseason

NFL Draft

Main article: 1969 NFL/AFL Draft

1969 Detroit Lions draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
2	34	Altie Taylor	RB	Utah State
2	47	Jim Yarbrough	TE	Florida	from Los Angeles
3	59	Larry Walton	WR	Arizona State	from New Orleans
8	190	Jim Carr	OT	Jackson State
9	216	Rocky Rasley	G	Oregon State
10	242	Bob Bergum	DE	Wisconsin-Platteville
11	268	Ron Walker	DE	Morris Brown
12	294	Bob Hadlock	DT	George Fox (Ore.)
13	320	Wilson Bowie	RB	USC
14	346	George Hoey	WR	Michigan
15	372	Fred Gough	LB	Texas-Arlington
16	398	Ken Spain	DE	Houston
16	407	John Stahl	G	Fresno State
17	424	Gary Steele	TE	Army
Made roster    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Notes

• Detroit traded its first-round selection (8th) and QB Milt Plum, P/WR Pat Studstill and RB Tommy Watkins to Los Angeles in exchange for QB Bill Munson and the Rams' third-round selection (73rd).
• Detroit traded DT Roger Brown to Los Angeles in exchange for the Rams' second-round selection (47th) and first- and third-round selections in 1968.
• Detroit traded QB Karl Sweetan to New Orleans in exchange for the Saints' third-round selection (59th).
• Detroit traded its third-round selection (60th), fourth-round selection in 1970 and S Bruce Maher to N.Y. Giants in exchange for RB Bill Triplett and LB Bill Swain.
• Detroit traded the third-round selection received from the Rams (73rd) to St. Louis in exchange for WR Billy Gambrell.
• Detroit traded its fourth-round selection (86th) and third-round selection (65th) in 1968 to San Francisco in exchange for RB David Kopay.
• Detroit traded its sixth- and seventh-round selections (138th) and (164th) to Atlanta in exchange for DT Chuck Sieminski and LB Andy Bowling.

Roster

1969 Detroit Lions roster
Quarterbacks 14 Greg Barton 11 Greg Landry 19 Bill Munson Running backs 40 Nick Eddy 24 Mel Farr 35 Tom Nowatzke 23 Phil Odle 42 Altie Taylor 38 Bill Triplett Wide receivers 81 Bill Malinchak 49 Larry Walton 89 John Wright Tight ends 87 Craig Cotton 88 Charlie Sanders		Offensive linemen 52 Bill Cottrell T 54 Ed Flanagan C 76 Rocky Freitas T 68 Frank Gallagher G 66 Bob Kowalkowski G 67 Rocky Rasley G 73 Roger Shoals T 63 Chuck Walton G 75 Jim Yarbrough T Defensive linemen 72 Dan Goich DT 74 Larry Hand DE 71 Alex Karras DT 70 Denis Moore DE 84 Joe Robb DE 82 Jerry Rush DT		Linebackers 53 Mike Lucci 62 Ed Mooney 50 Paul Naumoff 55 Wayne Walker 51 Bill Swain Defensive backs 20 Lem Barney CB 44 Dick LeBeau CB 47 Wayne Rasmussen FS 48 Tom Vaughn FS 28 Mike Weger SS Special teams  3 Rick Duncan P 12 Errol Mann K		Reserve lists -- George Hoey DB Practice squad  1 Garo Yepremian K rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
1	September 21	at Pittsburgh Steelers	L 13–16	0–1	Pitt Stadium	51,360
2	September 28	New York Giants	W 24–0	1–1	Tiger Stadium	54,358
3	October 5	at Cleveland Browns	W 28–21	2–1	Cleveland Municipal Stadium	82,833
4	October 12	Green Bay Packers	L 17–28	2–2	Tiger Stadium	58,384
5	October 19	Chicago Bears	W 13–7	3–2	Tiger Stadium	54,732
6	October 26	at Minnesota Vikings	L 10–24	3–3	Metropolitan Stadium	47,900
7	November 2	at San Francisco 49ers	W 26–14	4–3	Kezar Stadium	35,100
8	November 9	Atlanta Falcons	W 27–21	5–3	Tiger Stadium	53,242
9	November 16	St. Louis Cardinals	W 20–0	6–3	Tiger Stadium	51,749
10	November 23	at Green Bay Packers	W 16–10	7–3	Lambeau Field	50,861
11	November 27	Minnesota Vikings	L 0–27	7–4	Tiger Stadium	57,906
12	December 7	at Baltimore Colts	T 17–17	7–4–1	Memorial Stadium	60,238
13	December 14	Los Angeles Rams	W 28–0	8–4–1	Tiger Stadium	53,256
14	December 21	at Chicago Bears	W 20–3	9–4–1	Wrigley Field	41,879
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Season summary

Week 11 vs Vikings

Week Eleven: Minnesota Vikings (9–1) at Detroit Lions (7–3)

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Vikings	7	3	7	10	27
Lions	0	0	0	0	0

at Tiger Stadium, Detroit, Michigan

• Date: November 27
• Game weather: Snow, 36 °F (2 °C)
• Game attendance: 57,906
• Box Score

Game information

First quarter MIN – Dave Osborn 1-yard run (Fred Cox kick). Vikings 7–0. Drive: Second quarter MIN – Fred Cox 41-yard field goal. Vikings 10–0. Drive: Third quarter MIN – Oscar Reed 6-yard pass from Joe Kapp (Fred Cox kick). Vikings 17–0. Drive: Fourth quarter MIN – Alan Page 15-yard interception return on a lateral (Fred Cox kick). Vikings 24–0. MIN – Fred Cox 38-yard field goal. Vikings 27–0. Drive: Top passers MIN – Joe Kapp – 7/12, 61 yards, TD, INT DET – Greg Landry – 12/25, 93 yards, 2 INT Top rushers MIN – Dave Osborn – 15 rushes, 36 yards, TD DET – Nick Eddy – 11 rushes, 26 yards Top receivers MIN – Dave Osborn – 2 receptions, 27 yards DET – Charlie Sanders – 3 receptions, 47 yards

• Muddy field
• Largest crowd for Thanksgiving game in Detroit history

Standings

NFL Central
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Minnesota Vikings	12	2	0	.857	6–0	9–1	379	133	L1
Detroit Lions	9	4	1	.692	3–3	6–3–1	259	188	W2
Green Bay Packers	8	6	0	.571	3–3	5–5	269	221	W2
Chicago Bears	1	13	0	.071	0–6	0–10	210	339	L6

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

References

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