The 1960 Detroit Lions season was the 27th in the Motor City, and 31st season overall in franchise history. The Lions had only one win entering November, but had only one loss in their final seven games and finished at 7–5, one game short of the Western Conference championship (won by Green Bay). However, the Lions won the inaugural third place Playoff Bowl over the Cleveland Browns at the Miami Orange Bowl.
Due to this being the NFL's last 12-game regular season and the addition of the Dallas Cowboys giving the league 13 teams - meaning each team was required to have a bye during the season - the 1960 Lions are the last NFL team that did not play its season opener until October: Detroit drew its bye during Week One, which was in the last week of September.
Oddly, in the next season in which each NFL team had a bye week (in 1966, due to addition of the Atlanta Falcons giving the league 15 teams), the Lions did not have their bye until Week 15 (the last week of that season).
Offseason
NFL draft
Roster 1960 Detroit Lions roster Quarterbacks 14 Earl Morrall 15 Jim Ninowski 18 Warren Rabb
Running backs 41 Terry Barr 45 Dan Lewis 33 Nick Pietrosante 34 Ken Webb
Wide receivers 40 Howard Cassady 89 Gail Cogdill 87 Glenn Davis 84 Dave Middleton
Tight ends 80 Jim Gibbons 88 Steve Junker Offensive linemen 61 Grady Alderman G 75 John Gordy G 60 Bob Grottkau G 70 Willie McClung T 50 Bob Scholtz C 66 Harley Sewell G 73 Ollie Spencer T/C
Defensive linemen 76 Roger Brown DT 53 Bill Glass DE 71 Alex Karras DT 72 Gil Mains DT 78 Darris McCord DE/T 74 Jim Weatherall DT 88 Sam Williams DE Linebackers 57 Carl Brettschneider OLB 47 Jim Martin OLB/K 56 Joe Schmidt MLB 55 Wayne Walker OLB/MLB
Defensive backs 81 Night Train Lane CB 28 Yale Lary FS/P 44 Dick LeBeau CB 43 Gary Lowe SS 21 Bruce Maher CB 20 Jim Steffen CB 23 Dave Whitsell SS Reserve lists -- Hal Boutte WR (Military) 54 Max Messner LB (IR)
Note: rookies in italics
Regular season
According to the team, a total of 39,153 season tickets were sold by the Lions for the 1960 campaign.Edward M. "Bud" Erickson (ed.), Detroit Lions Facts Book 1963: Press, Radio, TV. Detroit, MI: Detroit Football Company, 1963, p. 4. The Lions played their home games in Briggs Stadium (Tiger Stadium), which had a regular listed seating capacity of 46,194, with an additional 7,000 bleacher seats for football to bring total capacity to 53,194.
Schedule Week Date Opponent Result Record Attendance 1 Bye 2 October 2 at Green Bay Packers L 9–28 0–1 32,150 3 October 9 San Francisco 49ers L 10–14 0–2 49,825 4 October 16 at Philadelphia Eagles L 10–28 0–3 38,065 5 October 23 Baltimore Colts W 30–17 1–3 53,854 6 October 30 at Los Angeles Rams L 35–48 1–4 53,295 7 November 6 at San Francisco 49ers W 24–0 2–4 48,447 8 November 13 Los Angeles Rams W 12–10 3–4 54,019 9 November 20 at Chicago Bears L 7–28 3–5 46,267 10 November 24 Green Bay Packers W 23–10 4–5 54,123 11 December 4 at Baltimore Colts W 20–15 5–5 57,808 12 December 11 Dallas Cowboys W 23–14 6–5 43,272 13 December 18 Chicago Bears W 36–0 7–5 51,017 Thursday (November 24: Thanksgiving) A bye week was necessary in , as the league expanded to an odd-number (13) of teams (Dallas); one team was idle each week.
Game summaries Week 9
Thanksgiving Day game Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2013-Dec-27.
Standings
Playoff Bowl The first Playoff Bowl game for third place was played at the Orange Bowl in Miami, the week following the NFL Championship game.
Round Date Opponent Result Venue Attendance Playoff Bowl January 7, 1961 Cleveland Browns W 17–16 Orange Bowl34,981 NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book, Workman Publishing Co, New York, NY, , p. 369
References
Detroit Lions on Pro Football Reference Detroit Lions on jt-sw.com Detroit Lions on The Football Database