The 1978 Denver Broncos season was the team's 19th year in professional football and its ninth with the National Football League (NFL). Led by second-year head coach Red Miller, the Broncos were 10–6, repeated as champions of the AFC West, and made the playoffs for the second straight season.
In the AFC divisional round, Denver lost on the road to the top-seeded Pittsburgh Steelers, 33–10, whom they had lost to two weeks earlier in the regular season finale at Mile High Stadium; Denver had clinched their division title six days earlier with a win over struggling Kansas City, while runners-up Oakland and Seattle both lost and fell to 8–7 with San Diego, two games back with one to play.
The Broncos were fifteenth in the league in scoring offense, while the defense finished second in points allowed and sixth in yards allowed.
Offseason
NFL draft
Personnel
Staff
Roster
Regular season
Schedule Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance 1 September 3 Oakland Raiders W 14–6 1–0 Mile High Stadium 75,092 2 September 11 at Minnesota Vikings L 9–12 1–1 Metropolitan Stadium 46,508 3 September 17 San Diego Chargers W 27–14 2–1 Mile High Stadium 74,983 4 September 24 at Kansas City Chiefs W 23–17 3–1 Arrowhead Stadium 60,593 5 October 1 Seattle Seahawks W 28–7 4–1 Mile High Stadium 74,989 6 October 8 at San Diego Chargers L 0–23 4–2 San Diego Stadium 50,077 7 October 16 Chicago Bears W 16–7 5–2 Mile High Stadium 75,008 8 October 22 at Baltimore Colts L 6–7 5–3 Memorial Stadium 54,057 9 October 29 at Seattle Seahawks W 20–17 6–3 Kingdome 62,948 10 November 5 New York Jets L 28–31 6–4 Mile High Stadium 74,983 11 November 12 at Cleveland Browns W 19–7 7–4 Cleveland Stadium 70,856 12 November 19 Green Bay Packers W 16–3 8–4 Mile High Stadium 74,965 13 November 23 at Detroit Lions L 14–17 8–5 Pontiac Silverdome 71,785 14 December 3 at Oakland Raiders W 21–6 9–5 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 53,932 15 December 10 Kansas City Chiefs W 24–3 10–5 Mile High Stadium 74,149 16 December 16 Pittsburgh Steelers L 17–21 10–6 Mile High Stadium 74,104 Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text. Monday night (September 11, October 16), Thursday (November 23: Thanksgiving), Saturday (December 16) This was the first NFL regular season with 16 games.
Standings
Playoffs
Round Date Opponent (seed) Result Record Venue Attendance Divisional December 30 at Pittsburgh Steelers (1) L 10–33 0–1 Three Rivers Stadium 48,921
References
External links Denver Broncos – 1978 media guide 1978 Denver Broncos season at jt-sw.com 1978 Denver Broncos at Pro-Football-Reference.com