1966 Detroit Lions season

1966 Detroit Lions season
Head Coach	Harry Gilmer
Home Field	Tiger Stadium
Results
Record	4–9–1
Place	6th NFL Western
Playoff Finish	did not qualify
Timeline
Previous season	Next season
1965	1967

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. They missed the playoffs for the ninth straight season and incurred their second losing record in a row.

Roster

Detroit Lions roster
Quarterbacks 16 Milt Plum Running Backs 34 Tom Nowatzke Wide Receivers 89 Gail Cogdill 87 John Henderson 81 Bill Malinchak 25 Pat Studstill P Tight Ends 80 Jim Gibbons 88 Ron Kramer		Offensive Linemen 54 Ed Flanagan C 66 Bob Kowalkowski G 70 Daryl Sanders T 73 Roger Shoals T Defensive Linemen 76 Roger Brown DT 71 Alex Karras DE 82 Jerry Rush DT		Linebackers 59 Ernie Clark 67 Wally Hilgenberg 53 Mike Lucci 55 Wayne Walker Defensive Backs 44 Dick LeBeau CB 21 Bruce Maher S 47 Wayne Rasmussen FS 48 Tom Vaughn FS Special Teams 1 Garo Yepremian K		Reserve Lists Currently vacant Rookies in italics

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

by Quarter 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

Standings

Template:1966 NFL Western standings