1975 Detroit Lions season

46th season in franchise history; first in the Silverdome August 2023 March 2026 Detroit Lions 1975 7–7 2nd NFC Central Rick Forzano William Clay Ford Sr. Pontiac Metropolitan Stadium Did not qualify 2 TE Charlie Sanders CB Lem Barney None Lions seasons 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. Offseason NFL draft 1975 NFL draft 1975 Detroit Lions 1 13 Lynn Boden G South Dakota State yes 2 38 Doug English DT Texas yes yes 4 94 Craig Hertwig OT Georgia yes 6 138 Fred Cooper DB Purdue from New Orleans no 6 141 Horace King RB Georgia from New England yes 6 144 Dennis Franklin WR Michigan yes 7 169 Mike Murphy WR Drake no 8 194 Leonard Thompson RB Oklahoma State yes 9 219 Steve Strinko LB Michigan no 10 250 Brad Boyd TE LSU no 11 275 Steve Myers G Ohio State no 12 300 Andre Roundtree LB Iowa State no 13 325 James Smith RB North Carolina Central no 14 350 Jim McMillan QB Widener no 15 375 Rudy Green RB Yale no 16 406 Les Chaves DB Kansas State no 17 431 Mark Lancaster G Tulsa no no 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. Personnel Staff / Coaches 1975 Detroit Lions Owner / Team President - William Clay Ford, Sr. Senior / Executive Vice President - Edwin J. Anderson Vice President / General manager - Russ Thomas Assistant General Manager - Rogers Lebew Coordinator of Personnel / Scouting - Tommy Hudspeth Treasurer - Newton S. Peters Publicity Director / Business Manager - Lyall Smith Assistant Publicity Director - Elliott Trumbull Equipment manager - Roy Marklem Assistant equipment manager - Dan Jaroschewich Head coach / Offensive Coordinator – Rick Forzano Assistant Head Coach - Bruce Beatty Offensive Backs - Wally English Offensive Line - Bruce Beatty Interior Offensive Line - Joe Bugel Wide Receivers - Raymond Berry Defensive Backfield / Secondary - Jim Carr Defensive Line Coach - Fritz Shurmur Linebackers Coach - Jerry Glanville Special teams - Rey Dempsey Strength and Conditioning - Floyd Reese Trainer - Kent Falb Assistant Trainer - Bruce Scott https://archive.org/details/lions-1975-media-guide-detroit-c/page/n3/mode/2up 1975 Detroit Lions official guide July 12, 2026 https://www.profootballarchives.com/1975nfldet.html#gsc.tab=0 1975 Detroit Lions ProFootballArchives.com July 12, 2026 Final roster 1975 Detroit Lions roster Quarterbacks 10 Jack Concannon 11 Greg Landry 14 Joe Reed quarterback Running backs 24 Dexter Bussey 30 Jim Hooks 25 Horace King American football y 42 Altie Taylor 33 Bobby Thompson running back Wide receivers 48 Marlin Briscoe 44 George Farmer wide receiver, born 1948 45 Ray Jarvis American football 39 Leonard Thompson American football Tight ends 81 John McMakin 88 Charlie Sanders Offensive linemen 62 Lynn Boden y G 68 Guy Dennis G 76 Rocky Freitas T 71 Craig Hertwig y T 60 R. W. Hicks y C 66 Bob Kowalkowski G 63 Jon Morris C 75 Jim Yarbrough T offensive lineman Defensive linemen 78 Doug English y DT 74 Larry Hand DE 70 Billy Howard gridiron football DE 83 Jim Mitchell defensive lineman DE 80 Herb Orvis DT 72 Ernie Price DE 82 Ken Sanders American football DE Linebackers 51 Larry Ball OLB 52 Jim Laslavic MLB 60 Paul Naumoff OLB 55 Ed O'Neil OLB 59 Charlie Weaver OLB Defensive backs 20 Lem Barney CB 29 Ben Davis American football CB 32 Lenny Dunlap CB 26 Dick Jauron FS 23 Levi Johnson CB 28 Mike Weger FS 40 Charlie West SS American football Special teams 12 Errol Mann K 18 Herman Weaver P Reserve lists 89 Dennis Franklin y WR IR 58 Mike Hennigan American football LB IR 64 Gordon Jolley G IR 19 Bill Munson QB IR 36 Steve Owens American football RB IR -- Andre Roundtree y LB IR 86 Jon Staggers WR IR -- Steve Strinko y LB IR 21 Jim Thrower S IR 49 Larry Walton WR IR 43 active, 10 reserve, 0 practice / taxi squad 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, 1975 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, 1975 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 Lions 0 7 3 7 Falcons 0 7 7 0 September 28 Atlanta Stadium, Atlanta 1:00 p.m. 62 °F °C 1 or, wind 9 mph km/h knots yes 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 yes Pro-Football-Reference.com Standings References External links 1975 Detroit Lions at Pro-Football-Reference.com 1975 Detroit Lions at JT-SW.com 1975 Detroit Lions at The Football Database (FootballDB.com) Detroit Lions Category:Detroit Lions seasons Detroit Lions