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.
Offseason NFL draft
Undrafted free agents
+ 1978 undrafted free agents of notePlayerPositionCollegeReggie ArnoldWide receiverPurdueRick HansingCenterBemidji StateMike MorganRunning backWisconsinJack SteptoeWide receiverUtahMike UlmerDefensive backDoane
Roster
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.
Pro-Football-Reference.com
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 16
Pro-Football-Reference.com
Standings
References