The 2002 season was the

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) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

' 73rd in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). It was the Lions’ inaugural season at the new

Ford Field Ford Field is a domed American football stadium located in Downtown Detroit. It primarily serves as the home of the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL), the Michigan Panthers of the United Football League (UFL), the Mid-Americ ...

Downtown Detroit Downtown Detroit is the central business district and a Neighborhoods in Detroit, residential area of the city of Detroit, Michigan, United States. Locally, "downtown" tends to refer to the 1.4 square mile region bordered by M-10 (Michigan high ...

and their first in the city since the team left Tiger Stadium after the 1974 season. Following the season,

Marty Mornhinweg Marty Mornhinweg (born March 29, 1962) is an American football coach and former player who was most recently a senior offensive consultant for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He was the offensive coordinator for th ...

was fired and

Steve Mariucci Stephen Ray Mariucci (born November 4, 1955), nicknamed "Mooch", is an American sportscaster and former football coach who was the head coach of two National Football League (NFL) teams, the San Francisco 49ers ( 1997– 2002) and the Detroit L ...

was hired as the Lions' head coach. The Lions entered the 2002 season looking to improve on their 2–14 record from

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

and make the playoffs for the first time since

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

. They improved on their record, winning 3 games. However, the new stadium didn't help the team overall, and they continued to disappoint, beginning the season with three consecutive losses. By week 9, the Lions had a 3–5 record after a win over the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

. However, after that win, the Lions lost their remaining 8 games to finish the season 3–13 and failed to reach the playoffs. The Lions also went 0–8 on the road for the second straight season. As a result, Marty Mornhinweg was fired after the season. In his 2 seasons as head coach, the Lions went 5–27 for a winning percentage of .156.

Offseason

NFL draft

Undrafted free agents

Personnel

Staff

Roster

Regular season

In addition to their regular games against

NFC North The National Football Conference – Northern Division or NFC North is one of the four divisions of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL). Nicknamed the "Black and Blue Division" for the rough and toug ...

rivals, the Lions under the NFL's new scheduling formula played games against teams from the

NFC South The National Football Conference – Southern Division or NFC South is one of the four Division (sport), divisions of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL). It was created before the 2002 NFL season when th ...

and from the

AFC East The American Football Conference – Eastern Division or AFC East is one of the four Division (sport), divisions of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). There are currently four teams that reside in th ...

. They also played the

and

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The ...

, who had the fourth best records from 2001 of the teams placed in their respective divisions.

Schedule

Game summaries

Week 1: at Miami Dolphins

Week 2: at Carolina Panthers

Week 3: vs. Green Bay Packers

Week 4: vs. New Orleans Saints

Week 6: at Minnesota Vikings

Week 7: vs. Chicago Bears

Week 8: at Buffalo Bills

Week 9: vs. Dallas Cowboys

Week 10: at Green Bay Packers

Week 11: vs. New York Jets

Week 12: at Chicago Bears

Week 13: vs. New England Patriots

Week 14: at Arizona Cardinals

Week 15: vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Week 16: at Atlanta Falcons

Week 17: vs. Minnesota Vikings

Standings

Division

Conference

References

External links

2002 Detroit Lions
at

Pro-Football-Reference.com Pro Football Reference (PFR) is an online statistics database for professional American football maintained by Sports Reference. The site provides career statistics for players, teams, and games, as well as records and NFL draft history. PFR was ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:2002 Detroit Lions Season

Detroit Lions seasons

2002 in Detroit