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1961 Detroit Lions season
1961 Detroit Lions season
Head coach	George Wilson
Results
Record	8–5–1
Division place	2nd NFL Western
Playoff finish	Won NFL Playoff Bowl; (vs. Eagles) 38–10
	← 1960; Lions seasons; 1962 →;

The 1961 Detroit Lions season was the 32nd season in franchise history. Detroit was runner-up in the Western conference at 8–5–1, then won a second Playoff Bowl game against the Philadelphia Eagles that was played in the Orange Bowl, 38–10.^[1]

This was also the first season that the silhouetted blue lion logo appeared on the helmets.

Regular season

According to the team, a total of 39,501 season tickets were sold by the Lions for the 1961 campaign.^[2] 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.^[2]

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Attendance
1	September 17	at Green Bay Packers	W 17–13	1–0	32,150
2	September 24	at Baltimore Colts	W 16–15	2–0	49,825
3	October 1	San Francisco 49ers	L 0–49	2–1	38,065
4	October 8	Chicago Bears	L 17–31	2–2	53,854
5	October 15	Los Angeles Rams	W 14–13	3–2	53,295
6	October 22	Baltimore Colts	L 14–17	3–3	48,447
7	October 29	at Los Angeles Rams	W 28–10	4–3	54,019
8	November 5	at San Francisco 49ers	T 20–20	4–3–1	46,267
9	November 12	at St. Louis Cardinals	W 45–14	5–3–1	54,123
10	November 19	at Minnesota Vikings	W 37–10	6–3–1	57,808
11	November 23	Green Bay Packers	L 9–17	6–4–1	43,272
12	December 3	at Chicago Bears	W 16–15	7–4–1	51,017
13	December 10	Minnesota Vikings	W 13–7	8–4–1	42,655
14	December 17	Philadelphia Eagles	L 24–27	8–5–1	44,231

Thursday (November 23: Thanksgiving)

Standings

NFL Western Conference
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Green Bay Packers	11	3	0	.786	9–3	391	223	W1
Detroit Lions	8	5	1	.615	7–4–1	270	258	L1
Chicago Bears	8	6	0	.571	7–5	326	302	W2
Baltimore Colts	8	6	0	.571	6–6	302	307	W1
San Francisco 49ers	7	6	1	.538	6–5–1	346	272	L1
Los Angeles Rams	4	10	0	.286	3–9	263	333	L1
Minnesota Vikings	3	11	0	.214	3–9	285	407	L2

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

NFL Eastern Conference
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	CONF	PF	PA	STK
New York Giants	10	3	1	.769	9–2–1	368	220	T1
Philadelphia Eagles	10	4	0	.714	8–4	361	297	W1
Cleveland Browns	8	5	1	.615	8–3–1	319	270	T1
St. Louis Cardinals	7	7	0	.500	7–5	279	267	W3
Pittsburgh Steelers	6	8	0	.429	5–7	295	287	L1
Dallas Cowboys	4	9	1	.308	2–9–1	236	380	L4
Washington Redskins	1	12	1	.077	1–10–1	174	392	W1

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

Roster

Detroit Lions roster

Quarterbacks

15 Earl Morrall
33 Nick Pietrosante RB/QB

Running backs

Wide receivers

Tight ends

Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

Reserve lists

currently vacant

rookies in italics

Source:

Playoff Bowl

The Playoff Bowl matched the runners-up of the two conferences to determine third place in the league. It was played in January at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, the week following the NFL Championship game. This season's participants, Detroit and Philadelphia, had met three weeks earlier in the last game of the regular season, a three-point Eagles' road win,^[3]^[4] and were slightly favored in Miami.^[5]

This was the second year for the game and the Lions repeated as winners;^[1] it is classified by the NFL as an exhibition game, rather than postseason.

Round	Date	Opponent	Result	Venue	Attendance
Playoff Bowl	January 6, 1962	Philadelphia Eagles	W 38–10	Orange Bowl	25,612

Source:^[1]^[6]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Detroit storms past Philadelphia, 38-10". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. January 7, 1962. p. 1B.
^ ^a ^b Edward M. "Bud" Erickson (ed.), Detroit Lions Facts Book 1963: Press, Radio, TV. Detroit, MI: Detroit Football Company, 1963, p. 4.
^ "Eagles 27, Lions 24". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. December 18, 1961. p. 3B.
^ "Lucky to finish 2nd, says coach of Lions". Toledo Blade. (Ohio). Associated Press. December 18, 1961. p. 23.
^ "Eagles slight choice over Lions today". Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. January 6, 1962. p. 4, part 2.
^ NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book, Workman Publishing Co, New York, ISBN 0-7611-2480-2, p. 369