The 1973 Detroit Lions season was their 44th in the league. Don McCafferty, who served as an assistant under Don Shula during Shula's stint as head coach of the Baltimore Colts, and who as head coach himself coached the Colts to a Super Bowl V victory over the Dallas Cowboys, would replace Joe Schmidt as head coach. However, the team would still fail to improve and get better on their previous season's output of 8–5–1, finishing a mediocre 6–7–1. The football team had missed the playoffs for the third in a row straight season.

NFL draft

Notes

Roster

Schedule

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Season summary

Week 1

Week 14

Standings