1978 Chicago Bears season

The 1978 season was the Chicago Bears' 59th in the National Football League, and their first under head coach Neill Armstrong. The team failed to improve on their 9–5 record from 1977 to finish at 7–9, and failed to make the playoffs for the 14th time in the past 15 seasons.

1978 Chicago Bears season
Owner	George Halas
General manager	Jim Finks
Head coach	Neill Armstrong
Home field	Soldier Field
Results
Record	7–9
Division place	4th NFC Central
Playoff finish	Did not qualify

Offseason

NFL Draft

Main article: 1978 NFL draft

1978 Chicago Bears draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
3	74	Brad Shearer	Defensive tackle	Texas
6	139	John Skibinski	Running back	Purdue
6	158	Mekeli Ieremia	Defensive end	BYU
7	185	Herman Jones	Wide receiver	Ohio State
8	212	George Freitas	Tight end	California
9	244	Mike Martin	Linebacker	Kentucky
10	271	Ben Zambiasi	Linebacker	Georgia
11	298	Walt Underwood	Defensive end	USC
12	325	Lew Sibley	Linebacker	LSU
Made roster

Undrafted free agents

1978 Undrafted Free Agents of note

Player	Position	College
Mike Morgan	Running back	Wisconsin

Roster

1978 Chicago Bears roster

Quarterbacks (QB) 7 Bob Avellini 8 Vince Evans 15 Mike Phipps Running backs (RB) 25 Art Best 35 Roland Harper 34 Walter Payton 29 Mike Morgan 30 John Skibinski Wide receivers (WR) 84 Brian Baschnagel 83 Golden Richards 85 Steve Schubert 89 James Scott Tight ends (TE) 87 Mike Cobb 39 Robin Earl 88 Greg Latta

Offensive linemen (OL) 64 Ted Albrecht T 79 Lionel Antoine T 65 Noah Jackson G 62 Dan Jiggetts T 70 Dennis Lick T 63 Jon Morris C 52 Dan Neal C 75 Jeff Sevy G 69 Revie Sorey G Defensive linemen (DL) 53 Tommy Hart DE 73 Mike Hartenstine DE 74 Jerry Meyers DT 68 Jim Osborne DT 82 Alan Page DT 76 Ron Rydalch DT 72 Brad Shearer DT

Linebackers (LB) 51 Doug Becker 55 Doug Buffone 59 Gary Campbell 50 Chris Devlin 54 Tom Hicks 58 Jerry Muckensturm 57 Don Rives Defensive backs (DB) 45 Gary Fencik SS 24 Virgil Livers CB 46 Doug Plank SS 47 Mike Spivey 44 Terry Schmidt CB 23 Len Walterscheid Special teams 86 Bob Parsons P 16 Robert R. Thomas K

Reserve 48 Allan Ellis CB (IR) -- George Freitas TE (IR) 22 Johnny Musso RB (IR) 83 Steve Rivera WR (IR) Rookies in italics , 5 practice squad

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
1	September 3	St. Louis Cardinals	W 17–10	1–0	Soldier Field	52,791
2	September 10	at San Francisco 49ers	W 16–13	2–0	Candlestick Park	49,502
3	September 17	at Detroit Lions	W 19–0	3–0	Pontiac Silverdome	65,982
4	September 25	Minnesota Vikings	L 20–24	3–1	Soldier Field	53,551
5	October 1	Oakland Raiders	L 19–25	3–2	Soldier Field	52,848
6	October 8	at Green Bay Packers	L 14–24	3–3	Lambeau Field	56,267
7	October 16	at Denver Broncos	L 7–16	3–4	Mile High Stadium	75,008
8	October 22	at Tampa Bay Buccaneers	L 19–33	3–5	Tampa Stadium	68,146
9	October 29	Detroit Lions	L 17–21	3–6	Soldier Field	53,378
10	November 5	Seattle Seahawks	L 29–31	3–7	Soldier Field	50,697
11	November 12	at Minnesota Vikings	L 14–17	3–8	Metropolitan Stadium	43,286
12	November 19	Atlanta Falcons	W 13–7	4–8	Soldier Field	46,022
13	November 26	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	W 14–3	5–8	Soldier Field	42,373
14	December 4	at San Diego Chargers	L 7–40	5–9	San Diego Stadium	48,492
15	December 10	Green Bay Packers	W 14–0	6–9	Soldier Field	34,306
16	December 16	at Washington Redskins	W 14–10	7–9	RFK Stadium	49,774
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 2

"The 100 yards was nice, but it doesn't mean a thing since we lost." O. J. Simpson said after winning his first confrontation with Walter Payton. Simpson had 108 yards to Payton's 62. - But Simpson's fumble proved to be a pivotal one. He recovered the ball but lost 6 yards on the play, and the 49ers, leading by four points in the fourth quarter, had to go to the air to try to maintain possession. Doug Buffone then intercepts and Chicago wound up with the winning touchdown.

1 2 3 4 Total • Bears 3 3 3 7 16 49ers 7 3 0 3 13 Date: September 10 Location: Candlestick Park, San Francisco, California Game start: 1:00 p.m. Game weather: 64 °F (18 °C), wind 13 mph (21 km/h) Referee: Dick Jorgensen TV announcers (CBS): Frank Glieber Johnny Morris

Scoring summary 1 CHI Bob Thomas 32 yard field goal Bears 3–0 1 SF O. J. Simpson 8 yard pass from Steve DeBerg (Ray Wersching kick) 49ers 7–3 2 CHI Bob Thomas 44 yard field goal 49ers 7–6 2 SF Ray Wersching 44 yard field goal 49ers 10–6 3 CHI Bob Thomas 38 yard field goal 49ers 10–9 4 SF Ray Wersching 27 yard field goal 49ers 13–9 4 CHI Roland Harper 1 yard run (Bob Thomas kick) Bears 16–13

Week 3

• Television: CBS
• Announcers: Tim Ryan and Johnny Morris

Chicago scored three times in about four minutes in the third quarter, including a 40-yard touchdown pass from Bob Avellini to James Scott as the Bears go 3-0 to stay in first place and extend their regular season winning streak to 9. The third quarter scoring barrage began with a 28-yard field goal by Bob Thomas at 10:41. Less than Three minutes later Tommy Hart tackled quarterback Greg Landry in the end zone for a safety. Then the Bears wrapped up the scoring with Avellini's 40-yard bomb to wide receiver James Scott over the head of cornerback James Hunter.

Week 6 at Packers

Week Six: Chicago Bears (3–2) at Green Bay Packers (4–1)

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Bears	0	0	0	14	14
Packers	0	3	14	7	24

at Lambeau Field, Green Bay, Wisconsin

• Date: October 8
• Game time: 2:00 p.m.
• Game weather: 40 °F (4 °C)
• Game attendance: 56,267
• Box Score

Game information

First quarter No scoring Second quarter GB – Chester Marcol 41-yard field goal. Packers 3–0. Third quarter GB – Terdell Middleton 2-yard run (Chester Marcol kick). Packers 10–0. GB – Steve Luke 63-yard interception return (Chester Marcol kick). Packers 17–0. Fourth quarter CHI – James Scott 15-yard pass from Bob Avellini (Bob Thomas kick). Packers 17–7. GB – James Lofton 58-yard pass from David Whitehurst (Chester Marcol kick). Packers 24–7. CHI – James Scott 17-yard pass from Bob Avellini (Bob Thomas kick). Packers 24–14. Top passers CHI – Bob Avellini – 23/37, 224 yards, 2 TD, 3 INT GB – David Whitehurst – 6/12, 88 yards, TD Top rushers CHI – Walter Payton – 19 rushes, 82 yards GB – Terdell Middleton – 16 rushes, 64 yards, TD Top receivers CHI – James Scott – 9 receptions, 113 yards, 2 TD GB – James Lofton – 2 receptions, 65 yards, TD

Week 16

1 2 3 4 Total • Bears 7 0 7 0 14 Redskins 0 3 0 7 10 Date: December 16 Location: RFK Stadium • Washington, D.C. Game start: 1:00 p.m. EST Game weather: 46 °F (8 °C) • Wind 11 mph (18 km/h)

Scoring summary 1 CHI Walter Payton 44-yard run (Bob Thomas kick) Bears 7–0 2 WSH Mark Moseley 33-yard field goal Bears 7–3 3 CHI Steve Schubert 73-yard punt return (Bob Thomas kick) Bears 14–3 4 WSH Jean Fugett 17-yard pass from Billy Kilmer (Mark Moseley kick) Bears 14–10

Standings

NFC Central
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Minnesota Vikings(3)	8	7	1	.531	5–2–1	7–4–1	294	306	L2
Green Bay Packers	8	7	1	.531	5–2–1	6–5–1	249	269	L2
Detroit Lions	7	9	0	.438	4–4	5–7	290	300	W2
Chicago Bears	7	9	0	.438	3–5	7–5	253	274	W2
Tampa Bay Buccaneers	5	11	0	.313	2–6	3–11	241	259	L4