The 1984 Detroit Lions season was their 55th in the National Football League. The team failed to improve upon their previous season's output of 9–7, winning only four games.1984 Detroit Lions The team missed the playoffs for the first time in three seasons. Like the previous season, the Lions started 1–4, but unlike 1983, the Lions couldn't come back. In a season littered with numerous key injuries, the most painful was star running back Billy Sims suffering a career-ending knee injury in a game against the Minnesota Vikings. In just five seasons in the NFL since joining Detroit in 1980, Sims had set the Lions career rushing mark at 5,106. After the season, Dexter Bussey retired.
Offseason NFL draft
Round Pick Player Position College 1 20 David Lewis TE California 2 47 Pete Mandley WR Northern Arizona 3 62 Eric Williams DT Washington State 3 74 Ernest Anderson RB Oklahoma State 3 75 Steve Baack DE Oregon 4 106 Dave D'Addio RB Maryland 6 160 John Witkowski QB Columbia 7 178 Jimmie Carter LB New Mexico 7 187 Renwick Atkins OT Kansas 8 214 David Jones C Texas 9 246 Rich Hollins WR West Virginia 10 259 William Frizzell CB North Carolina Central 10 273 James Thaxton S Louisiana Tech 11 300 Mike Saxon P San Diego State 12 327 Glenn Streno C Tennessee
Roster
Schedule Week Date Opponent Result Record Attendance 1 September 2 San Francisco 49ers L 30–270–1 56,782 2 September 9 at Atlanta Falcons W 27–24 1–1 49,878 3 September 16 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers L 21–171–2 44,560 4 September 23 Minnesota Vikings L 29–281–3 57,511 5 September 30 at San Diego Chargers L 27–241–4 53,509 6 October 7 Denver Broncos L 28–71–5 55,836 7 October 14 Tampa Bay Buccaneers W 13–7 2–5 44,308 8 October 21 at Minnesota Vikings W 16–143–5 57,953 9 October 28 at Green Bay Packers L 41–93–6 54,289 10 November 4 Philadelphia Eagles T 23–23 3–6–1 59,141 11 November 11 at Washington Redskins L 28–143–7–1 50,212 12 November 18 at Chicago Bears L 16–143–8–1 54,911 13 Green Bay Packers W 31–284–8–1 63,698 14 December 2 at Seattle Seahawks L 38–174–9–1 62,441 15 December 10 Los Angeles Raiders L 24–34–10–1 66,710 16 December 16 Chicago Bears L 30–134–11–1 53,252Note: Intra-divisional opponents are in bold text.
Game summaries Week 1 (Sunday, September 2, 1984): vs. San Francisco 49ers The Football Database. Retrieved 2022-Jun-20.
Point spread: 49ers by 2½ Over/under: 43.0 (over) Time of game:
49ersGame statisticsLions24 First downs 1932–124 Rushes–yards 28–132188 Passing yards 17716–25–0 17–24–02–14 Sacked–yards 2–11174 Net passing yards 166298 Total yards 298198 Return yards 982–45.5 4–44.02–1 Fumbles–lost 0–02–32 Penalties–yards 6–4530:44 Time of Possession 29:16
Week 2: at Atlanta Falcons
Week 14: at Seattle Seahawks
Standings
References