The 1973 Detroit Lions season was their 44th in the league. Don McCafferty, who served as an assistant under Don Shula during Shula's stint as head coach of the Baltimore Colts, and who as head coach himself coached the Colts to a Super Bowl V victory over the Dallas Cowboys, would replace Joe Schmidt as head coach. However, the team would still fail to improve and get better on their previous season's output of 8–5–1, finishing a mediocre 6–7–1. They missed the playoffs for the third straight season.
NFL draft
Notes
Detroit traded TE Craig Cotton and its first-round selection (19th) to Chicago in exchange for Chicago's first- and third-round selections (17th and 58th). Detroit traded DB Al Clark to Los Angeles in exchange for the Rams' third-round selection (75th). Detroit traded its second-round selection in 1972 to Atlanta in exchange for CB Rudy Redmond, RB Sonny Campbell and Atlanta's fourth-round selection (91st). Detroit traded its fifth-round selection (123rd) to Washington in exchange for TE John Hilton. Detroit traded its sixth-round selection (148th) to St. Louis in exchange for LB Rick Ogle. Detroit traded DT Jerry Rush to Cleveland in exchange for the Browns' eighth-round pick (203rd).
Personnel Staff / Coaches
Final roster 1973 Detroit Lions roster Quarterbacks
Running backs
Wide receivers
Tight ends Offensive linemen
Defensive linemen Linebackers
Defensive backs
Special teams Reserve lists
45 active, 7 reserve, 0 practice / taxi squad
Rookies in italics
Schedule Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance Recap 1 September 16 at Pittsburgh Steelers L 10–24 0–1 Three Rivers Stadium 48,913 Recap 2 September 23 at Green Bay Packers T 13–13 0–1–1 Lambeau Field 55,495 Recap 3 Atlanta Falcons W 31–6 1–1–1 Tiger Stadium 45,599 Recap 4 October 7 Minnesota Vikings L 9–23 1–2–1 Tiger Stadium 49,549 Recap 5 October 14 at New Orleans Saints L 13–20 1–3–1 Tulane Stadium 57,810 Recap 6 October 21 Baltimore Colts L 27–29 1–4–1 Tiger Stadium 48,058 Recap 7 October 28 Green Bay Packers W 34–0 2–4–1 Tiger Stadium 43,616 Recap 8 November 4 San Francisco 49ers W 30–20 3–4–1 Tiger Stadium 49,531 Recap 9 November 11 at Minnesota Vikings L 7–28 3–5–1 Metropolitan Stadium 47,911 Recap 10 November 18 at Chicago Bears W 30–7 4–5–1 Soldier Field 48,625 Recap 11 November 22 Washington Redskins L 0–20 4–6–1 Tiger Stadium 46,807 Recap 12 December 2 at St. Louis Cardinals W 20–16 5–6–1 Busch Memorial Stadium 44,982 Recap 13 December 9 Chicago Bears W 40–7 6–6–1 Tiger Stadium 41,729 Recap 14 at Miami Dolphins L 7–34 6–7–1 Miami Orange Bowl 53,375 Recap Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.
Season summary
Week 1
Week 14
Standings
References
External links 1973 Detroit Lions at Pro-Football-Reference.com 1973 Detroit Lions at JT-SW.com 1973 Detroit Lions at The Football Database