The

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

season was their 42nd in the

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

. The team failed to improve on their previous season's output of 10–4, winning only seven games. Mired in adversity, the 1971 season turned especially tragic for the Lions and the NFL when, during their week 6 hosting of the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

, Lions wide receiver

Chuck Hughes Charles Frederick Hughes (March 2, 1943 – October 24, 1971) was an American football player, a wide receiver in the National Football League from 1967 to 1971. , he is the only NFL player to die on the field during a game. Early years Born ...

collapsed on the playing field. Unresponsive, Hughes was pronounced dead later that day of heart failure. Since 1971, no Detroit player has worn Hughes' #85 jersey save on special permission of the Hughes family.

Offseason

NFL Draft

Notes * Detroit traded QB

Greg Barton Gregory Mark Barton (born December 2, 1959 in Jackson, Michigan) is an American sprint kayaker who competed from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s. Competing in three Summer Olympics, he won four medals with two golds (K-1 1000 m, K-2 1000 m: ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

in exchange for the Eagles' second-round selection (30th) and second- and third-round selections in

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

. * Detroit traded DE Denis Moore to Philadelphia in exchange for the Eagles' sixth-round selection (150th). * Detroit traded its tenth-round selection (256th) to Philadelphia in exchange for DB Len Persin.

Offseason

NFL Draft

Roster

Schedule

Standings

Season summary

Week 6

References