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1963 Detroit Lions season

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1963 Detroit Lions season
General managerEdwin J. Anderson
Head coachGeorge Wilson
Home fieldTiger Stadium
Results
Record5–8–1
Division place4th (tied) NFL Western
Playoff finishDid not qualify

The 1963 Detroit Lions season marked the thirtieth year of the National Football League (NFL) franchise in Detroit and 34th overall.

It was national news in April when NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle indefinitely suspended two future Hall of Famers, Lions defensive tackle Alex Karras and Packers' halfback Paul Hornung for placing bets on NFL teams. Five other Lions players were fined $2,000 each for betting on games that they did not play in. The Lions franchise was additionally fined $2,000 each on two counts for failure to report information promptly and for lack of sideline supervision.[1] The gambling controversy proved to be an ongoing distraction throughout the season.

Things became lighthearted in August, when gonzo sports journalist George Plimpton endured the Lions' training camp process as an ostensible backup quarterback, going so far as to run a very unsuccessful series of downs in practice, to generate a story for the telling. Plimpton's 1963 training camp experience would culminate in a 1965 best-selling book, Paper Lion.

On Thanksgiving Day in Detroit, the Lions met the Packers for the thirteenth consecutive season. The game ended in a tie, the first for the Packers in five years,[2] and it was the end of the holiday series for Green Bay. Their visit to Tiger Stadium the following year was on a Monday night in late September, and the visiting opponent for Thanksgiving was rotated, starting with the Chicago Bears.

Offseason

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NFL Draft

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Round Pick Player Position School
1 12 Daryl Sanders Offensive Tackle Ohio State
Source:[3]

Preseason

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Paper Lion

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Paper Lion, published in 1966, is a non-fiction book by prominent American writer George Plimpton. Plimpton pitched to a lineup of baseball stars in an All-Star exhibition, presumably to answer the question, "How would the average man off of the street fare in an attempt to compete with the stars of professional sports?" He chronicled this experience in his book, Out of My League. In Paper Lion, Plimpton joins the training camp of the 1963 Detroit Lions on the premise of trying out to be the team's third-string quarterback. (The coaches were aware of the deception; the players were not until it became apparent that Plimpton did not really know how to receive the snap from center.) Plimpton, then thirty-six, showed how unlikely it would be for an "average" person to succeed as a professional athlete. When finally inserted at quarterback for a series in a scrimmage conducted in Pontiac, Michigan, Plimpton managed to lose yardage on each play, convincing many in the crowd that he was a professional sports clown inserted for amusement purposes, not someone who was genuinely giving his best effort.

Regular season

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Main article: 1963 NFL season

Schedule

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Game Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance Recap Sources
1 September 14 at Los Angeles Rams W 23–2 1–0 L.A. Memorial Coliseum 49,342 Recap
2 September 22 at Green Bay Packers L 10–31 1–1 Milwaukee County Stadium 45,912 Recap
3 September 29 Chicago Bears L 21–37 1–2 Tiger Stadium 55,400 Recap
4 October 6 San Francisco 49ers W 26–3 2–2 Tiger Stadium 44,088 Recap
5 October 13 at Dallas Cowboys L 14–17 2–3 Cotton Bowl 27,264 Recap
6 October 20 Baltimore Colts L 21–25 2–4 Tiger Stadium 51,901 Recap
7 October 27 Minnesota Vikings W 28–10 3–4 Tiger Stadium 44,509 Recap
8 November 3 at San Francisco 49ers W 45–7 4–4 Kezar Stadium 33,511 Recap
9 November 10 at Baltimore Colts L 21–24 4–5 Municipal Stadium 59,758 Recap
10 November 17 Los Angeles Rams L 21–28 4–6 Tiger Stadium 44,951 Recap
11 November 24 at Minnesota Vikings L 31–34 4–7 Metropolitan Stadium 28,763 Recap
12 November 28 Green Bay Packers T 13–13 4–7–1 Tiger Stadium 54,016 Recap
13 December 8 Cleveland Browns W 38–10 5–7–1 Tiger Stadium 51,382 Recap
14 December 15 at Chicago Bears L 14–24 5–8–1 Wrigley Field 45,317 Recap
Notes: Intra-conference opponents are in bold text. September 14 night game; November 28 Thanksgiving.

Standings

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NFL Western Conference
W L T PCT CONF PF PA STK
Chicago Bears 11 1 2 .917 10–1–1 301 144 W2
Green Bay Packers 11 2 1 .846 9–2–1 369 206 W2
Baltimore Colts 8 6 0 .571 7–5 316 285 W3
Detroit Lions 5 8 1 .385 4–7–1 326 265 L1
Minnesota Vikings 5 8 1 .385 4–7–1 309 390 W1
Los Angeles Rams 5 9 0 .357 5–7 210 350 L2
San Francisco 49ers 2 12 0 .143 1–11 198 391 L5
Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.
NFL Eastern Conference
W L T PCT CONF PF PA STK
New York Giants 11 3 0 .786 9–3 448 280 W3
Cleveland Browns 10 4 0 .714 9–3 343 262 W1
St. Louis Cardinals 9 5 0 .643 8–4 341 283 L1
Pittsburgh Steelers 7 4 3 .636 7–3–2 321 295 L1
Dallas Cowboys 4 10 0 .286 3–9 305 378 W1
Washington Redskins 3 11 0 .214 2–10 279 398 L3
Philadelphia Eagles 2 10 2 .167 2–8–2 242 381 L2
Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

References

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  1. ^ United Press International, "Hornung, Karras Suspended for Gambling: Detroit Club, Five Players Handed Fines," Muskogee [OK] Daily Phoenix, April 18, 1963, p. 23.
  2. ^ Chuck Johnson, "Lions tie Packers, 13 to 13," Milwaukee Journal, Nov. 29, 1963, part 2, p. 22.
  3. ^ NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book, Workman Publishing Co, New York, NY, ISBN 0-7611-2480-2, p. 395


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