Lions’ Gagliano Stars in Win Over Vikings

It may be hard to believe that Bob Gagliano is a hero, but it’s even harder to believe that the Minnesota Vikings are 1-4.

Believe it.

“I always thought Gagliano was the guy they should be going with,” Viking Coach Jerry Burns said after Gagliano completed 16 of 31 passes for 299 yards and three touchdowns as the Detroit Lions beat Minnesota, 34-27, Sunday.

“He’s the guy that put it all together at the end of last year. He can throw the ball very well. He took some pretty good hits in there and kept coming back.”

Even though Gagliano led the Lions to victories in their final five games of 1989, Coach Wayne Fontes considers him the team’s third-best all-around quarterback behind second-year man Rodney Peete and rookie Andre Ware. The only reason Gagliano started Sunday was that Peete was injured last week and Fontes believes Ware isn’t quite ready to play.

“Rodney has better skills,” Fontes said. “The guy with the best touch (Ware) is waiting his turn on the bench. (Gagliano) made the plays when he had to.”

Gagliano played at Glendale Hoover High, Glendale College and one year at U.S. International before transferring to Utah State after USIU dropped football. At Utah State in 1980, he passed for 2,365 yards and 20 touchdowns.

Gagliano was a 12th-round draft choice in 1981 who was released eight times by five different NFL teams. He also bounced around the USFL for two years before it folded.

Sunday, he was a star, as the Lions, in the first half anyway, mysteriously made little use of Barry Sanders. He touched the ball only five times--including once on a spectacular 22-yard touchdown catch-and-run that saw him fake out three defenders.

Detroit (2-3) cut the Vikings’ lead to 20-17 in the third quarter on a five-yard touchdown pass from Gagliano to Richard Johnson.

After Steve Jordan’s fumble was recovered by Detroit’s Toby Caston at Minnesota’s 34-yard line, Eddie Murray--who missed four field goals in last week’s 24-21 loss at Green Bay--made a 23-yarder on the first play of the fourth quarter to tie it, 20-20.

A 16-yard scoring pass from Gagliano to Terry Greer and a one-yard scoring run by Sanders with 4:46 left gave Detroit a 34-20 lead.

The Vikings’ Herschel Walker had a two-yard touchdown run with 2:16 left to round out the scoring.