1996 Detroit Lions season

1996 Detroit Lions season
Owner	William Clay Ford Sr.
General manager	Chuck Schmidt
Head coach	Wayne Fontes
Home stadium	Pontiac Silverdome
Results
Record	5–11
Division place	5th NFC Central
Playoffs	Did not qualify
Pro Bowlers	WR Herman Moore RB Barry Sanders
All-Pros	WR Herman Moore (1st team) RB Barry Sanders (2nd team)
Uniform
←  1995 Lions seasons 1997  →

The 1996 Detroit Lions season was their 67th in the National Football League (NFL). The team declined severely from their previous season’s output of 10–6. Following a 4–2 start, the Lions would proceed to lose nine of their final ten games to finish 5–11, missing the playoffs for the first time in four seasons. ^[1]

Following the season, longtime head coach Wayne Fontes was fired and Bobby Ross was hired to be the team's head coach the following season.

Offseason

Additions	Subtractions
RB Glyn Milburn (Broncos)	T Lomas Brown (Cardinals)
TE Pete Metzelaars (Panthers)	LB Chris Spielman (Bills)
T Ray Roberts (Seahawks)	LB Tracy Hayworth (Falcons)
	S Willie Clay (Patriots)
	G Doug Widell (Colts)
	DE Dan Owens (Falcons)

NFL draft

Main article: 1996 NFL draft

1996 Detroit Lions draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
1	17	Reggie Brown	LB	Texas A&M	from Seattle
1	23	Jeff Hartings  *	G	Penn State
3	76	Ryan Stewart	S	Georgia Tech	from New England
4	129	Brad Ford	CB	Alabama	compensatory pick
5	158	Kerwin Waldroup	DT	Central State
Made roster    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Notes

• Detroit received San Diego's first-round selection (21st) in exchange for Detroit's second-round selection in 1995.
• Detroit traded up from the pick it received from San Diego (21st) with Seattle to the 17th pick, giving up a third-round selection (91st) in return. The 91st pick was received from Kansas City in exchange for S William White.
• Detroit traded its second- and seventh-round selections (55th and 236th) to Denver in exchange for RB Glyn Milburn.
• Detroit traded up from its third-round selection (86th) with New England to the Patriots' third-round selection (76th), giving up its fourth- and sixth-round selections (119th and 195th).

Personnel

Staff

1996 Detroit Lions staff

Front office Chairman and president – William Clay Ford Sr. Vice chairman – William Clay Ford Jr. Executive vice president and chief operating officer – Chuck Schmidt Vice president of player personnel – Ron Hughes Vice president of football administration – Larry Lee Director of pro scouting – Kevin Colbert Head coaches Head coach – Wayne Fontes Assistant head coach – Dave Levy Assistant head coach/defense – John Teerlinck Offensive coaches Offensive coordinator – Tom Moore Quarterbacks – Greg Landry Running backs – Mo Forte Receivers – Charlie Sanders Tight ends/offensive assistant – Steve Kazor Offensive line – Paul Boudreau

Defensive coaches Defensive coordinator – Jim Eddy Linebackers – Howard Tippett Defensive backs – John Fontes Defensive assistant/lbs and dbs – Don Clemons Special teams coaches Special teams – Frank Novak Strength and conditioning Strength and conditioning/special teams assistant – Bert Hill

Roster

1996 Detroit Lions roster

Quarterbacks (QB) 13 Johnny Johnson  1 Don Majkowski 19 Scott Mitchell Running backs (RB) 26 Eric Lynch 33 Glyn Milburn 34 Ron Rivers 20 Barry Sanders 30 Cory Schlesinger FB Wide receivers (WR) 17 Miles Macik 83 Aubrey Matthews 10 Kez McCorvey 84 Herman Moore 87 Johnnie Morton 80 Brett Perriman Tight ends (TE) 89 Pete Metzelaars 82 Derek Price 49 Eric Stocz

Offensive linemen (OL) 77 Mike Compton 76 Scott Conover G/T 53 Kevin Glover C 74 Chris Harrison G 64 Jeff Hartings G 66 Hessley Hempstead C/G 70 Jeff Jones T 71 Zefross Moss T 72 Ray Roberts T 62 Tony Semple Defensive linemen (DL) 96 Shane Bonham DT 92 Shane Dronett DE 94 Luther Elliss DT 91 Robert Porcher DE 97 Tracy Scroggins DE 98 Henry Thomas DT 93 Kerwin Waldroup DE 90 Keith Washington DE 95 Mike Wells DT

Linebackers (LB) 51 Tom Beer OLB 59 Reggie Brown OLB 99 Pepper Johnson 51 Antonio London OLB 52 Scott Kowalkowski OLB Defensive backs (DB) 36 Bennie Blades SS 27 Jocelyn Borgella CB 44 Brad Ford CB 25 Greg Jeffries CB 39 Van Malone FS 47 Ryan McNeil CB 31 Corey Raymond CB 28 Ron Rice SS 42 Ryan Stewart S 24 Richard Woodley CB Special teams (ST)  4 Jason Hanson K  3 Mark Royals P

Practice squad 15 Tommie Boyd WR 21 Allen Williams RB 53 active, 3 inactive, 2 practice squadReserve 57 Stephen Boyd LB (IR) 81 Kevin Hickman TE (IR) 86 David Sloan TE (IR) Rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

1996 was the first time since 1984 that the Lions played the San Diego Chargers, ^[2] and the first time they had met the Philadelphia Eagles in the regular season since 1986. ^[3] The reason for this is that before the admission of the Texans in 2002, NFL scheduling formulas for games outside a team’s division were much more influenced by table position during the previous season. ^[4]

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Attendance
1	September 1	at Minnesota Vikings	L 17–13	0–1	52,972
2	September 8	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	W 21–6	1–1	54,229
3	September 15	at Philadelphia Eagles	L 24–17	1–2	66,007
4	September 22	Chicago Bears	W 35–16	2–2	70,022
5	September 29	at Tampa Bay Buccaneers	W 27–0	3–2	34,961
6	October 6	Atlanta Falcons	W 28–24	4–2	58,666
7	October 13	at Oakland Raiders	L 37–21	4–3	50,037
8	Bye
9	October 27	New York Giants	L 35–7	4–4	63,501
10	November 3	at Green Bay Packers	L 28–18	4–5	60,695
11	November 11	at San Diego Chargers	L 27–21	4–6	60,425
12	November 17	Seattle Seahawks	W 17–16	5–6	51,194
13	November 24	at Chicago Bears	L 31–14	5–7	55,864
14	November 28	Kansas City Chiefs	L 28–24	5–8	75,079
15	December 8	Minnesota Vikings	L 24–22	5–9	46,043
16	December 15	Green Bay Packers	L 31–3	5–10	73,214
17	December 23	at San Francisco 49ers	L 24–14	5–11	61,921
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Standings

NFC Central
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	PF	PA	STK
(1) Green Bay Packers	13	3	0	.813	456	210	W5
(6) Minnesota Vikings	9	7	0	.563	298	315	L1
Chicago Bears	7	9	0	.438	283	305	L1
Tampa Bay Buccaneers	6	10	0	.375	221	293	W1
Detroit Lions	5	11	0	.313	302	368	L5

References

1. 1996 Detroit Lions
2. Detroit Lions v San Diego Chargers
3. Detroit Lions v Philadelphia Eagles
4. History of the NFL’s Structure and Formats

External links

• 1996 Detroit Lions at Pro-Football-Reference.com