1989 Detroit Lions season
The 1989 Detroit Lions season was the franchise’s 60th season in the National Football League, their 56th as the Detroit Lions, and is best known as the beginning of the Barry Sanders era. Sanders, the previous year’s Heisman Trophy winner, was drafted 3rd overall by the Lions in the 1989 NFL Draft and was named to the Pro Bowl in his rookie season.
| 1989 Detroit Lions season | |
|---|---|
| Head coach | Wayne Fontes |
| General manager | Russ Thomas |
| Owner | William Clay Ford, Sr. |
| Home field | Pontiac Silverdome |
| Results | |
| Record | 7–9 |
| Division place | 3rd NFC Central |
| Playoff finish | Did not qualify |
| Pro Bowlers | RB Barry Sanders LB Jerry Ball LB Chris Spielman K Eddie Murray |
After starting the season with five straight losses and bottoming out at 2–9, the Lions won five in a row and six out of seven to finish the season with a 7–9 record. Nonetheless, it was their sixth consecutive losing season and their seventh of the decade.
Offseason
NFL Draft
| 1989 Detroit Lions draft | |||||
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | College | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | Barry Sanders * † | Running back | Oklahoma State | |
| 2 | 30 | John Ford | Wide receiver | Virginia | |
| 3 | 59 | Mike Utley | Guard | Washington State | |
| 4 | 86 | Ray Crockett | Cornerback | Baylor | |
| 5 | 115 | Lawrence Pete | Defensive tackle | Nebraska | |
| 6 | 141 | Rodney Peete | Quarterback | USC | |
| 7 | 170 | Jerry Woods | Defensive back | Northern Michigan | |
| 8 | 197 | Chris Parker | Defensive tackle | West Virginia | |
| 9 | 226 | Derek MacCready | Defensive end | Ohio State | |
| 10 | 253 | Jason Phillips | Wide receiver | Houston | |
| 11 | 282 | Keith Karpinski | Linebacker | Penn State | |
| 12 | 309 | James Cribbs | Defensive end | Memphis State | |
| Made roster † Pro Football Hall of Fame * Made at least one Pro Bowl during career | |||||
Personnel
Staff
Front office
Head coaches
Offensive coaches
|
Defensive coaches
Special teams coaches
| |||||
Roster
Quarterbacks
Running backs
Wide receivers
Tight ends |
Offensive linemen
Defensive linemen
|
Linebackers
Defensive backs
Special teams
|
Reserve lists
| ||||||
Regular season
Schedule
| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | September 10 | Phoenix Cardinals | L 16–13 | |
| 2 | September 17 | at New York Giants | L 24–14 | |
| 3 | September 24 | Chicago Bears | L 47–27 | |
| 4 | October 1 | Pittsburgh Steelers | L 23–3 | |
| 5 | October 8 | at Minnesota Vikings | L 24–17 | |
| 6 | October 15 | at Tampa Bay Buccaneers | W 17–16 | |
| 7 | October 22 | Minnesota Vikings | L 20–7 | |
| 8 | October 29 | at Green Bay Packers | L 23–20 OT | |
| 9 | November 5 | at Houston Oilers | L 35–31 | |
| 10 | November 12 | Green Bay Packers | W 31–22 | |
| 11 | November 19 | at Cincinnati Bengals | L 42–7 | |
| 12 | November 23 | Cleveland Browns | W 13–10 | |
| 13 | December 3 | New Orleans Saints | W 21–14 | |
| 14 | December 10 | at Chicago Bears | W 27–17 | |
| 15 | December 17 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | W 33–7 | |
| 16 | December 24 | at Atlanta Falcons | W 31–24 |
Standings
| NFC Central | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | T | PCT | DIV | CONF | PF | PA | STK | |
| Minnesota Vikings(3) | 10 | 6 | 0 | .625 | 6–2 | 8–4 | 362 | 356 | W1 |
| Green Bay Packers | 10 | 6 | 0 | .625 | 5–3 | 10–4 | 362 | 275 | W2 |
| Detroit Lions | 7 | 9 | 0 | .438 | 4–4 | 6–6 | 312 | 364 | W5 |
| Chicago Bears | 6 | 10 | 0 | .375 | 2–6 | 4–8 | 358 | 377 | L6 |
| Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 5 | 11 | 0 | .313 | 3–5 | 5–7 | 320 | 419 | L4 |
Player stats
Rushing
| Player | Attempts | Yards | Average | Long | Touchdowns |
| Barry Sanders | 280 | 1470 | 5.3 | 34 | 14 |
Receiving
| Player | Receptions | Yards | Average | Long | Touchdowns |
| Barry Sanders | 24 | 282 | 11.8 | 46 | 0 |
Awards and honors
- Barry Sanders, National Football League Rookie of the Year Award
- Walter Stanley, NFL Kickoff Return Leader
gollark: But mostly stuff is too big.
gollark: Mostly miniature Linux distros.
gollark: There are a *few* OSes which run entirely in RAM.
gollark: OSes already do tons of in-memory caching.
gollark: As RAM expands so too does bloat.
References
- "1989 Detroit Lions Draftees". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved January 5, 2014.
External links
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.