1979 Detroit Lions season

The 1979 Detroit Lions season was the 50th season in franchise history. In the midst of a major rebuilding project, the woeful Lions finished the season with a 2–14 record, equal-worst record in the NFL and a tiebreaker with the 49ers gave the Lions the first pick overall in the 1980 NFL Draft. Detroit entered the year as a favorite in the NFC Central, but a season-ending injury to quarterback Gary Danielson in the preseason forced the Lions to ultimately turn to a rookie ninth-round pick, Jeff Komlo, behind center, with disastrous results.

1979 Detroit Lions season
Head coach	Monte Clark
Home field	Pontiac Silverdome
Results
Record	2–14
Division place	5th NFC Central
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
Pro Bowlers	TE David Hill DE Al Baker
AP All-Pros	none

Offseason

NFL Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	College
1	10	Keith Dorney	Tackle	Penn State
2	37	Ken Fantetti	Linebacker	Wyoming
3	67	Bo Robinson	Running Back	West Texas A&M
4	88	Ulysses Norris	Tight End	Georgia
4	92	Jon Brooks	Linebacker	Clemson
5	131	Walt Brown	Center	Pittsburgh
8	213	John Mohring	Linebacker	C.W. Post
9	231	Jeff Komlo	Quarterback	Delaware
11	302	Eddie Cole	Linebacker	Mississippi
12	313	Bob Forester	Center	Brown
12	326	Bryan Sweeney	Wide Receiver	Texas A&M-Kingsville

Undrafted free agents

1979 Undrafted Free Agents of note

Player	Position	College
Rade Savich	Kicker	Central Michigan

Roster

1979 Detroit Lions roster

Quarterbacks (QB) 10 Scott Hunter 19 Jeff Komlo 14 Joe Reed Running backs (RB) 24 Dexter Bussey 31 Ken Callicutt 38 Lawrence Gaines 32 Rick Kane 25 Horace King 36 Bo Robinson Wide receivers (WR) 47 John Arnold 87 Freddie Scott 39 Leonard Thompson 18 Gene Washington 42 Robert Woods Tight ends (TE) 81 David Hill 80 Ulysses Norris

Offensive linemen (OL) 76 Karl Baldischwiler T 73 Russ Bolinger G 70 Keith Dorney T 61 Homer Elias G 58 Dennis Franks C 65 Amos Fowler C 62 Don Morrison G 67 Wally Pesuit T Defensive linemen (DL) 60 Al Baker DE 78 Doug English DT 71 Dave Gallagher DT 79 William Gay DT 75 Dave Pureifory DE

Linebackers (LB) 53 Jon Brooks 50 Eddie Cole 63 Garry Cobb 57 Ken Fantetti 51 James Harrell 55 Ed O'Neil Defensive backs (DB) 40 Jimmy Allen SS 27 Luther Bradley CB 28 James Hunter FS 46 Doug Jones SS 48 Eddie Lewis CB 44 Dave Parkin 43 Don Patterson 21 Walt Williams CB Special teams 1 Benny Ricardo K 15 Tom Skladany P

Reserve 89 Luther Blue WR (IR) 16 Gary Danielson QB (IR) 72 Cleveland Elam DE/DT (IR) 64 Dan Gray DT (IR) 26 Tony Leonard CB (IR) 68 Mark Markovich C (PUP) —- John Mohring LB (IR) 82 Ken Sanders DE (IR) 46 Jimmy Stewart SS (IR) 54 Larry Tearry C (IR) 84 Jesse Thompson WR (IR) 52 Dave Washington LB (IR) 77 John Woodcock DE (PUP) Rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Attendance
1	September 1	at Tampa Bay Buccaneers	L 31–16	0—1	68,225
2	September 9	Washington Redskins	L 27–24	0—2	54,991
3	September 16	at New York Jets	L 31–10	0—3	49,612
4	September 23	Atlanta Falcons	W 24–23	1—3	56,249
5	September 30	Minnesota Vikings	L 13–10	1—4	75,295
6	October 7	at New England Patriots	L 24–17	1—5	60,629
7	October 14	at Green Bay Packers	L 24–16	1—6	53,930
8	October 21	at New Orleans Saints	L 17–7	1—7	57,428
9	October 28	Buffalo Bills	L 20–17	1—8	61,911
10	November 4	at Chicago Bears	L 35–7	1—9	50,108
11	November 11	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	L 16–14	1—10	70,461
12	November 18	at Minnesota Vikings	L 14–7	1—11	43,650
13	November 22	Chicago Bears	W 20–0	2—11	66,219
14	December 2	at Philadelphia Eagles	L 44–7	2—12	66,128
15	December 9	Miami Dolphins	L 28–10	2—13	78,087
16	December 15	Green Bay Packers	L 18–13	2—14	57,376

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Standings

NFC Central
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Tampa Bay Buccaneers(2)	10	6	0	.625	6–2	8–6	273	237	W1
Chicago Bears(5)	10	6	0	.625	5–3	8–4	306	249	W3
Minnesota Vikings	7	9	0	.438	5–3	6–6	259	337	L1
Green Bay Packers	5	11	0	.313	3–5	4–8	246	316	W1
Detroit Lions	2	14	0	.125	1–7	2–10	219	365	L3

Player stats

Passing

Player	Games	Completions	Attempts	Yards	Touchdowns	Interceptions	Rating
Jeff Komlo	16	183	368	2238	11	23	52.8
Scott Hunter	13	18	41	321	1	1	69.3
Joe Reed	2	14	32	164	2	1	67.7
Jerry Golsteyn	1	2	9	16	0	2	0.0
Tom Skladany	2	0	1	0	0	0	28.6
Larry Swider	14	1	1	36	0	0	118.7

Rushing

Player	Games	Attempts	Yards	Touchdowns	Longest rush
Dexter Bussey	16	144	625	1	38
Rick Kane	16	94	332	4	26
Bo Robinson	14	87	302	2	29
Horace King	16	39	160	1	23
Jeff Komlo	16	30	107	2	16
Lawrence Gaines	16	23	55	0	6
Freddie Scott	14	6	21	0	18
Leonard Thompson	15	5	24	0	16
Ken Callicut	16	3	6	0	10
Scott Hunter	13	2	3	1	2
Joe Reed	2	2	11	0	11
David Hill	16	1	15	0	15
Gene A. Washington	16	1	24	0	24
Luther Blue	9	1	−8	0	−8
Jerry Golsteyn	1	1	0	0	0
Ed O'Neil	16	1	0	0	0
Larry Swider	14	1	0	0	0

Receiving

Note: Rec = Receptions; Yds = Yards; Avg = Average Yards per Reception; TD = Touchdowns

Player	Games	Receptions	Yards	Average yards per reception	Touchdowns	Longest
Freddie Scott	14	62	929	15.0	5	50
David Hill	16	47	569	12.1	3	40
Leonard Thompson	15	24	451	18.8	2	82
Horace King	16	18	150	8.3	0	30
Dexter Bussey	16	15	102	6.8	0	22
Gene A. Washington	16	14	192	13.7	1	29
Bo Robinson	14	14	118	8.4	0	14
Rick Kane	16	9	104	11.6	1	36
Luther Blue	9	8	102	12.8	1	26
Ulysses Norris	16	4	43	10.8	1	34
Ken Callicutt	16	2	16	8.0	0	11
Russ Bolinger	16	1	−1	−1.0	0	−1

References

• Detroit Lions on Pro Football Reference
• Detroit Lions on jt-sw.com
• Detroit Lions on The Football Database