1987 Detroit Lions season

The 1987 Detroit Lions season was the 58th season in franchise history. In a strike-affected season, the Lions fell one game further from their 1986 record of 5–11, winning only four games and missing the postseason for the fourth consecutive season. Their week 3 game against long-time rival Chicago was the game affected by the strike, and as a result the Bears and Lions only met once during the season, the only season during the rivalry that the teams haven't met twice in a season. Highlights of their second matchup with Chicago were later shown during the Max Headroom signal hijacking that occurred across the city of Chicago that night.

Offseason

Undrafted free agents

1987 undrafted free agents of note

Player	Position	College
Karl Bernard	Running back	Southwestern Louisiana
Lee Saltz	Quarterback	Temple

Personnel

NFL replacement players

After the league decided to use replacement players during the NFLPA strike, the following team was assembled:

colspan="7" style="text-align:center; Template:NFLPrimaryStyle;"|1987 Detroit Lions replacement roster
Quarterbacks 10 Brendan Folmar 18 Todd Hons Running backs 28 Calvin Farmer 30 Nick Kowgios 31 Cleve Wester 36 Davey Lewis 24 Gary Ellerson 44 Tony Dollinger 46 Stan Edwards FB 86 Danny Bradley WR/KR Wide receivers 45 Eric Truvillion 80 Darrell Grymes 81 Stan Baker 83 Melvin Hoover 87 Gilvanni Johnson 89 James Duncan Tight ends 81 Mark Witte 82 Mark Wheeler 84 Jerry Diorio 84 Tim Schramm		Offensive linemen 60 Chuck Steele 63 Joe Felton 64 Paul Kiser 65 Patrick Cain 67 Greg Orton 68 Jerry Quaerna 71 Chris Geile 72 Jim Warne 76 Mark Jenkins 76 Mark Fincher 77 Rick Johnson Defensive linemen 69 Charles Benson 73 Jeff Kacmarek 79 William Gay 97 George McDuffie 98 Jerome Davis 99 Bob Beemer 99 Stuart Tolle		Linebackers 34 Creig Federico 50 Ernie Adams 50 Danny Lockett 54 Thomas Boyd 58 Carl Carr 90 Robert Thompson 93 Tim Ross 95 Steve Boadway 98 John Wacker Defensive backs 21 Bob McDonough CB/S 23 Kevin Grom 23 Maurice Harvey LCB 25 Anthony Fields 35 Alvin Hall CB/KR 39 Ken Luckett 39 John Bostic 43 Ivan Hicks 53 Anthony Office 47 Steve Hirsch Special teams 1 Matt Kinzer P 11 Mike Black P 13 Mike Mancini P 14 John Misko P 19 Mike Prindle K

Regular season

Schedule

style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Week	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Date	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Opponent	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Result	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Record	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Attendance
1	September 13	at Minnesota Vikings	L 34–19	0—1	57,061
2	September 20	at Los Angeles Raiders	L 27–7	0—2	50,300
–	September 27	Chicago Bears	canceled due to strike
3	October 4	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	L 31–27	0—3	4,919
4	October 11	at Green Bay Packers	W 19–16 OT	1—3	35,779
5	October 18	Seattle Seahawks	L 37–14	1—4	8,310
6	October 25	Green Bay Packers	L 34–33	1—5	27,278
7	November 1	at Denver Broncos	L 34–0	1—6	75,172
8	November 8	Dallas Cowboys	W 27–17	2—6	45,325
9	November 15	at Washington Redskins	L 20–13	2—7	53,593
10	November 22	at Chicago Bears	L 30–10	2—8	63,357
11	Template:Dow tooltip	Kansas City Chiefs	L 27–20	2—9	43,820
12	December 6	Los Angeles Rams	L 37–16	2—10	33,413
13	December 13	at Tampa Bay Buccaneers	W 20–10	3—10	41,699
14	December 20	Minnesota Vikings	L 17–14	4—10	27,693
15	December 27	at Atlanta Falcons	W 30–13	4—11	13,906
Note: Intra-divisional opponents are in bold text.

External links

• 1987 Detroit Lions at Pro-Football-Reference.com