1999 Detroit Lions

The 1999 Detroit Lions season was their 70th in the league. The team improved upon their previous season's output of 5–11 and qualified for the playoffs, where they lost to the Redskins in the Wild Card round. This was their last playoff appearance until the 2011 season.

Regular season
The season had an inauspicious beginning as future Hall of Fame running back Barry Sanders suddenly retired on the eve of training camp. Undaunted, Coach Bobby Ross led the Lions to a fast start, highlighted by a Week 9 win over the then 6-1 St. Louis. The following week, Coach Ross made a questionable decision to go for a failed two-point conversion after a touchdown against Arizona. The game ended with Detroit in the red zone trying to score a game-winning touchdown. After defeating the Redskins in Week 13, the Lions had an 8-4 record and were the top seed in the NFC. Subsequently, the Lions lost their last four regular season games and backed into the 6th playoff seed.