1978 Chicago Bears (NFL) |
| 3rd place National Football Conference Central Division 7-9-0 .438 |
| Head Coach: Neill Armstrong |
| Jerry Frei | Offensive Line |
| Dale Haupt | Defensive Line |
| Hank Kuhlmann | Special Teams |
| Jim LaRue | Defensive Backs |
| Ken Meyer | Offensive Coordinator |
| Buddy Ryan | Defensive Coordinator |
| Doug Scovil | Receivers |
| SCORES | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day | Date | Opponent | Score | Location | Venue | Attendance | |||
| Sat | 8/5/1978 | H | Oakland Raiders | 13-14 | L | Chicago, IL | Soldier Field | 54758 | |
| Sat | 8/12/1978 | H | St. Louis Cardinals | 14-26 | L | Chicago, IL | Soldier Field | 52732 | |
| Sat | 8/19/1978 | A | Cincinnati Bengals | 3-27 | L | Cincinnati, OH | Riverfront Stadium | 47685 | |
| Thu | 8/24/1978 | A | Seattle Seahawks | 7-16 | L | Seattle, WA | Kingdome | 54844 | |
| Sun | 9/3/1978 | H | St. Louis Cardinals | 17-10 | W | Chicago, IL | Soldier Field | 52791 | |
| Sun | 9/10/1978 | A | San Francisco 49ers | 16-13 | W | San Francisco, CA | Candlestick Park | 49502 | |
| Sun | 9/17/1978 | A | Detroit Lions | 19-0 | W | Pontiac, MI | Pontiac Silverdome | 65982 | |
| Mon | 9/25/1978 | H | Minnesota Vikings | 20-24 | L | Chicago, IL | Soldier Field | 53561 | |
| Sun | 10/1/1978 | H | Oakland Raiders | 19-25 | L | OT | Chicago, IL | Soldier Field | 52848 |
| Sun | 10/8/1978 | A | Green Bay Packers | 14-24 | L | Green Bay, WI | Lambeau Field | 56267 | |
| Mon | 10/16/1978 | A | Denver Broncos | 7-16 | L | Denver, CO | Mile High Stadium | 75008 | |
| Sun | 10/22/1978 | A | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 19-33 | L | Tampa, FL | Tampa Stadium | 68146 | |
| Sun | 10/29/1978 | H | Detroit Lions | 17-21 | L | Chicago, IL | Soldier Field | 53378 | |
| Sun | 11/5/1978 | H | Seattle Seahawks | 29-31 | L | Chicago, IL | Soldier Field | 50697 | |
| Sun | 11/12/1978 | A | Minnesota Vikings | 14-17 | L | Bloomington, MN | Metropolitan Stadium | 43286 | |
| Sun | 11/19/1978 | H | Atlanta Falcons | 13-7 | W | Chicago, IL | Soldier Field | 46022 | |
| Sun | 11/26/1978 | H | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 14-3 | W | Chicago, IL | Soldier Field | 42373 | |
| Mon | 12/4/1978 | A | San Diego Chargers | 7-40 | L | San Diego, CA | San Diego Stadium | 48492 | |
| Sun | 12/10/1978 | H | Green Bay Packers | 14-0 | W | Chicago, IL | Soldier Field | 34306 | |
| Sat | 12/16/1978 | A | Washington Redskins | 14-10 | W | Washington, DC | RFK Stadium | 49774 | |
Exhibition game. Playoff game. A=Away game. H=Home game. N=Neutral site game. W=Win. L=Loss. T=Tie. OT=Overtime.
Click on Date to see boxscore.
| ROSTER | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No | Player | Pos | Ht | Wt | Age | College | GP | GS |
| 64 | Ted Albrecht | LOT | 6-4 | 250 | 24 | California | 15 | 15 |
| 79 | Lionel Antoine | LOT | 6-6 | 255 | 28 | Southern Illinois | 9 | 1 |
| 7 | Bob Avellini | QB | 6-2 | 210 | 25 | Maryland | 13 | 12 |
| 84 | Brian Baschnagel | WR | 5-11 | 184 | 24 | Ohio State | 16 | 1 |
| 51 | Doug Becker | LB | 6-0 | 222 | 22 | Notre Dame | 1 | 0 |
| 25 | Art Best | RB | 6-1 | 205 | 25 | Notre Dame; Kent State | 16 | 0 |
| 55 | Doug Buffone | LLB | 6-3 | 230 | 34 | Louisville | 15 | 15 |
| 59 | Gary Campbell | RLB | 6-1 | 205 | 26 | Colorado | 16 | 16 |
| 87 | Mike Cobb | TE | 6-5 | 248 | 23 | Michigan State | 13 | 0 |
| 50 | Chris Devlin | LB | 6-2 | 228 | 25 | Penn State | 6 | 1 |
| 39 | Robin Earl | RB | 6-5 | 242 | 23 | Washington | 16 | 0 |
| 8 | Vince Evans | QB | 6-2 | 205 | 23 | Los Angeles CC; Southern California | 3 | 0 |
| 45 | Gary Fencik | SS | 6-1 | 196 | 24 | Yale | 16 | 16 |
| 36 | Wentford Gaines | CB | 6-0 | 185 | 25 | Ferrum JC; Tennessee Tech; Cincinnati | 11 | 0 |
| 35 | Roland Harper | HB | 5-11 | 208 | 25 | Louisiana Tech | 16 | 16 |
| 53 | Tommy Hart | LDE | 6-3 | 234 | 34 | Morris Brown | 16 | 16 |
| 73 | Mike Hartenstine | RDE | 6-3 | 254 | 25 | Penn State | 16 | 15 |
| 51 | Bruce Herron | LB | 6-2 | 220 | 24 | New Mexico | 15 | 1 |
| 54 | Tom Hicks | MLB | 6-4 | 237 | 26 | Illinois | 9 | 9 |
| 65 | Noah Jackson | LOG | 6-2 | 264 | 27 | Tampa | 16 | 16 |
| 62 | Dan Jiggetts | OT | 6-5 | 270 | 24 | Harvard | 16 | 0 |
| 88 | Greg Latta | TE | 6-3 | 225 | 26 | Morgan State | 16 | 16 |
| 70 | Dennis Lick | ROT | 6-3 | 265 | 24 | Wisconsin | 16 | 16 |
| 24 | Virgil Livers | RCB | 5-8 | 183 | 26 | Western Kentucky | 13 | 13 |
| 74 | Jerry Meyers | DE | 6-4 | 253 | 24 | Northern Illinois | 16 | 0 |
| 29 | Mike Morgan | RB | 5-11 | 218 | 22 | Wisconsin | 5 | 0 |
| 63 | Jon Morris | C | 6-4 | 247 | 36 | Holy Cross | 10 | 0 |
| 58 | Jerry Muckensturm | LB | 6-4 | 220 | 25 | Arkansas State | 16 | 5 |
| 52 | Dan Neal | C | 6-4 | 252 | 29 | Kentucky | 16 | 16 |
| 68 | Jim Osborne | LDT | 6-3 | 259 | 29 | Southern University | 15 | 15 |
| 82 | Alan Page | RDT | 6-5 | 255 | 33 | Notre Dame | 10 | 10 |
| 86 | Bob Parsons | P | 6-5 | 232 | 28 | Penn State | 16 | 0 |
| 34 | Walter Payton | FB | 5-10 | 203 | 25 | Jackson State | 16 | 16 |
| 15 | Mike Phipps | QB | 6-3 | 208 | 31 | Purdue | 6 | 4 |
| 46 | Doug Plank | FS | 5-11 | 197 | 25 | Ohio State | 14 | 13 |
| 80 | Bo Rather | WR | 6-1 | 182 | 28 | Michigan | 6 | 2 |
| 83 | Golden Richards | WR | 6-0 | 181 | 28 | Brigham Young; Hawaii | 15 | 14 |
| 57 | Don Rives | MLB | 6-2 | 229 | 27 | Texas Tech | 16 | 6 |
| 76 | Ron Rydalch | RDT | 6-4 | 250 | 26 | Utah | 12 | 5 |
| 44 | Terry Schmidt | LCB | 6-0 | 177 | 26 | Ball State | 16 | 16 |
| 85 | Steve Schubert | WR | 5-10 | 184 | 27 | Massachusetts | 13 | 1 |
| 89 | James Scott | WR | 6-1 | 192 | 26 | Trinity Valley CC | 15 | 14 |
| 75 | Jeff Sevy | OG | 6-5 | 267 | 28 | DeAnza JC; California | 14 | 0 |
| 72 | Brad Shearer | RDT-LDT | 6-3 | 254 | 23 | Texas | 15 | 2 |
| 30 | John Skibinski | RB | 6-0 | 222 | 23 | Purdue | 16 | 0 |
| 69 | Revie Sorey | ROG | 6-2 | 264 | 25 | Illinois | 16 | 16 |
| 47 | Mike Spivey | RCB | 6-0 | 198 | 24 | Colorado | 16 | 3 |
| 16 | Bob Thomas | K | 5-10 | 177 | 26 | Notre Dame | 16 | 0 |
| 23 | Lenny Walterscheid | FS | 5-11 | 190 | 24 | Southern Utah | 14 | 3 |
| DRAFT LIST | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Round | Overall | Player | Pos | College |
| 3 | 74 | Brad Shearer | DT | Texas |
| 6 | 139 | John Skibinski | RB | Purdue |
| 6 | 158 | Mekeli Ieremia | DE | Brigham Young |
| 7 | 185 | Herman Jones | WR | Ohio State |
| 8 | 212 | George Freitas | TE | California |
| 9 | 244 | Mike Martin | LB | Kentucky |
| 10 | 271 | Ben Zambiasi | LB | Georgia |
| 11 | 298 | Walt Underwood | LB | Southern California |
| 12 | 325 | Lew Sibley | LB | Louisiana State |
| SCORING BY QUARTERS | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | OT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Totals | 30 | 55 | 93 | 75 | 0 |
| Opponents Totals | 71 | 69 | 47 | 81 | 6 |
| TEAM STATS | TOP | 1st Downs | FDR | FDP | FDX | 3rd Down Efficiency | 4th Down Efficiency | PEN | PENY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team Totals | 262 | 136 | 99 | 27 | 87/248 35.1% | / % | 101 | 958 | |
| Opponents Totals | 282 | 128 | 134 | 20 | 81/238 34.0% | / % | 101 | 801 |
| SCORING | TD | X1 | X1A | PCT | FG | FGA | PCT | SAF | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bob Thomas | 0 | 26 | 28 | 92.9 | 17 | 22 | 77.3 | 0 | 77 |
| Walter Payton | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 66 | ||
| Roland Harper | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 48 | ||
| James Scott | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 | ||
| Bob Avellini | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | ||
| Virgil Livers | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| Steve Schubert | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| Mike Spivey | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| Tommy Hart | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| (Team) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Team Totals | 29 | 26 | 29 | 89.7 | 17 | 22 | 77.3 | 1 | 253 |
| Opponents Totals | 33 | 28 | 32 | 87.5 | 16 | 19 | 84.2 | 0 | 274 |
| FIELD GOALS | MADE | ATT | PCT | BL | LG | 1-19 | 20-29 | 30-39 | 40-49 | 50+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bob Thomas | 17 | 22 | 77.3 | 2 | 44 | 0/0 | 7/7 | 9/11 | 1/4 | 0/0 |
| Team Totals | 17 | 22 | 77.3 | 2 | 44 | 0/0 | 7/7 | 9/11 | 1/4 | 0/0 |
| Opponents Totals | 16 | 19 | 84.2 | 0/0 | 4/4 | 6/8 | 6/7 | 0/0 |
| RUSHING | ATT | YDS | AVG | LG | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walter Payton | 333 | 1395 | 4.2 | 76 | 11 |
| Roland Harper | 240 | 992 | 4.1 | 31 | 6 |
| Bob Avellini | 34 | 54 | 1.6 | 10 | 2 |
| Mike Phipps | 13 | 34 | 2.6 | 10 | 0 |
| Vince Evans | 6 | 23 | 3.8 | 13 | 0 |
| Robin Earl | 3 | 17 | 5.7 | 9 | 0 |
| Art Best | 2 | 11 | 5.5 | 6 | 0 |
| Bob Parsons | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Brian Baschnagel | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Team Totals | 634 | 2526 | 4.0 | 76 | 19 |
| Opponents Totals | 568 | 2174 | 3.8 | 67 | 15 |
| PASSING | ATT | COM | PCT | INC | YDS | Y/ATT | Y/COM | LG | TD | TD% | INT | INT% | TS | YL | NYP | RTG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bob Avellini | 264 | 141 | 53.4 | 107 | 1718 | 6.5 | 12.2 | 61 | 5 | 1.9 | 16 | 6.1 | 26 | 208 | 1510 | 54.8 |
| Mike Phipps | 83 | 44 | 53.0 | 29 | 465 | 5.6 | 10.6 | 35t | 2 | 2.4 | 10 | 12.0 | 6 | 55 | 410 | 38.1 |
| Vince Evans | 3 | 1 | 33.3 | 1 | 38 | 12.7 | 38.0 | 38 | 0 | 0.0 | 1 | 33.3 | 2 | 25 | 13 | 42.4 |
| Bob Parsons | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 39.6 | ||
| Roland Harper | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1 | 100.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | ||
| Team Totals | 352 | 186 | 52.8 | 138 | 2221 | 6.3 | 11.9 | 61 | 7 | 2.0 | 28 | 8.0 | 34 | 288 | 1933 | 45.9 |
| Opponents Totals | 436 | 239 | 54.8 | 180 | 2857 | 6.6 | 12.0 | 58t | 16 | 3.7 | 17 | 3.9 | 40 | 351 | 2506 | 71.1 |
| RECEIVING | REC | YDS | AVG | LG | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walter Payton | 50 | 480 | 9.6 | 61 | 0 |
| Roland Harper | 43 | 340 | 7.9 | 33t | 2 |
| James Scott | 42 | 759 | 18.1 | 59 | 5 |
| Golden Richards | 27 | 379 | 14.0 | 52 | 0 |
| Greg Latta | 15 | 159 | 10.6 | 21 | 0 |
| Steve Schubert | 4 | 51 | 12.8 | 19 | 0 |
| Brian Baschnagel | 2 | 29 | 14.5 | 22 | 0 |
| Bo Rather | 1 | 16 | 16.0 | 16 | 0 |
| Mike Cobb | 1 | 7 | 7.0 | 7 | 0 |
| Robin Earl | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 1 | 0 |
| Team Totals | 186 | 2221 | 11.9 | 61 | 7 |
| Opponents Totals | 239 | 2857 | 12.0 | 58t | 16 |
| INTERCEPTIONS | INT | YDS | AVG | LG | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gary Fencik | 4 | 77 | 19.3 | 59 | 0 |
| Virgil Livers | 3 | 86 | 28.7 | 60t | 1 |
| Doug Buffone | 3 | 22 | 7.3 | 16 | 0 |
| Terry Schmidt | 2 | 23 | 11.5 | 23 | 0 |
| Don Rives | 2 | 8 | 4.0 | 8 | 0 |
| Wentford Gaines | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Doug Plank | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lenny Walterscheid | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Team Totals | 17 | 216 | 12.7 | 60t | 1 |
| Opponents Totals | 28 | 312 | 11.1 | 63t | 1 |
| PUNTING | NO | YDS | AVG | LG | BL | TB | I20 | RYDS | NYDS | NET |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bob Parsons | 96 | 3549 | 37.0 | 54 | 0 | 8 | 18 | 295 | 3094 | 32.2 |
| Team Totals | 96 | 3549 | 37.0 | 54 | 0 | 8 | 18 | 295 | 3094 | 32.2 |
| Opponents Totals | 96 | 3437 | 35.8 | 61 | 10 | 25 | 286 | 2951 | 30.7 |
| PUNT RETURNS | NO | FC | YDS | AVG | LG | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steve Schubert | 27 | 21 | 229 | 8.5 | 73t | 1 |
| Virgil Livers | 10 | 0 | 31 | 3.1 | 13 | 0 |
| Lenny Walterscheid | 3 | 0 | 24 | 8.0 | 11 | 0 |
| Brian Baschnagel | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2.0 | 2 | 0 |
| Team Totals | 41 | 22 | 286 | 7.0 | 73t | 1 |
| Opponents Totals | 45 | 23 | 295 | 6.6 | 21 | 0 |
| KICKOFF RETURNS | NO | FC | YDS | AVG | LG | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brian Baschnagel | 20 | 455 | 22.8 | 36 | 0 | |
| Lenny Walterscheid | 11 | 335 | 30.5 | 81 | 0 | |
| Wentford Gaines | 10 | 240 | 24.0 | 37 | 0 | |
| Mike Morgan | 5 | 110 | 22.0 | 24 | 0 | |
| Steve Schubert | 4 | 80 | 20.0 | 27 | 0 | |
| Robin Earl | 3 | 48 | 16.0 | 20 | 0 | |
| John Skibinski | 3 | 36 | 12.0 | 20 | 0 | |
| Mike Spivey | 2 | 34 | 17.0 | 23 | 0 | |
| Greg Latta | 2 | 14 | 7.0 | 8 | 0 | |
| Jerry Muckensturm | 1 | 6 | 6.0 | 6 | 0 | |
| Team Totals | 61 | 1358 | 22.3 | 81 | 0 | |
| Opponents Totals | 52 | 1146 | 22.0 | 43 | 0 |
| SACKS | NO | YDS |
|---|---|---|
| Tommy Hart | 7.5 | |
| Mike Hartenstine | 6.0 | |
| Jim Osborne | 4.0 | |
| Gary Campbell | 3.0 | |
| Doug Buffone | 2.0 | |
| Jerry Meyers | 2.0 | |
| Ron Rydalch | 2.0 | |
| Alan Page | 11.5 | |
| Bruce Herron | 1.0 | |
| Brad Shearer | 1.0 | |
| Team Totals | 40.0 | 351.0 |
| Opponents Totals | 34.0 | 288.0 |
| FUMBLES | NO | LOST | OWN | OPP | REC | YDS | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ted Albrecht | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Bob Avellini | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -11 | 0 | |
| Brian Baschnagel | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Doug Buffone | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Gary Campbell | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Gary Fencik | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 13 | 0 |
| Wentford Gaines | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Roland Harper | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Mike Hartenstine | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 0 |
| Tom Hicks | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| Noah Jackson | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Virgil Livers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Jerry Meyers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Jon Morris | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -50 | 0 | |
| Bob Parsons | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | -17 | 0 | |
| Walter Payton | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Doug Plank | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Golden Richards | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Don Rives | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Terry Schmidt | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| James Scott | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| John Skibinski | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Revie Sorey | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Mike Spivey | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Lenny Walterscheid | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Team Totals | 22 | 11 | 11 | 16 | 27 | -52 | 0 |
| Opponents Totals | 32 | 16 | 15 | 8 | 23 | 1 |
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