1978 Chicago Bears roster and stats

1978 Chicago Bears: 7-9-0
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Home record: 4-4-0 (143 points scored, 121 allowed) Road record: 3-5-0 (110 points scored, 153 allowed) Head Coach: Neil Armstrong 253 points scored (20th of 28 teams), 274 points allowed (9th) NFL Averages: 18.3 points/game (293.3 points/team) Team stats and rankings: ---------------- PASSING ---------------- ----------- RUSHING ---------- --- TOTAL --- Cmp Att Yards (Rank) Yd/Att TD Int Att Yards (Rank) Yd/Att TD Yards (Rank) Turnovers Offense: 186 352 1,933 (26) 5.01 7 28 634 2,526 ( 4) 4.0 19 4,459 (22) 36 Defense: 239 436 2,506 (15) 5.26 16 17 568 2,174 (12) 3.8 15 4,680 (12) 33

Team roster (starters in bold): # Player Pos GP Hgt Wgt Age Exp College 7 Bob Avellini QB 13 6'2 206 25 4 Maryland 8 Vince Evans QB 3 6'2 216 23 2 Southern California 15 Mike Phipps QB 6 6'3 211 30 9 Purdue 16 Bob Thomas K 16 5'10 174 26 4 Notre Dame 23 Len Walterscheid DB 14 5'11 185 24 2 Southern Utah 24 Virgil Livers DB 13 5'9 178 26 4 Western Kentucky 25 Art Best RB 16 6'1 205 25 2 Kent State 29 Mike Morgan RB 5 5'11 218 22 R Wisconsin 30 John Skibinski RB 16 6'0 218 23 R Purdue 34 Walter Payton RB 16 5'11 205 25 4 Jackson State 35 Roland Harper RB 16 6'0 209 25 4 Louisiana Tech 36 Wentford Gaines DB 11 6'0 185 25 1 Cincinnati 39 Robin Earl RB 16 6'5 245 23 2 Washington 44 Terry Schmidt DB 16 6'0 176 26 5 Ball State 45 Gary Fencik DB 16 6'1 192 24 3 Yale 46 Doug Plank DB 14 6'0 201 25 4 Ohio State 47 Mike Spivey DB 16 6'0 194 24 2 Colorado 50 Chris Devlin LB 6 6'2 228 24 3 Penn State 51 Bruce Herron LB 15 6'2 220 24 1 New Mexico 51 Doug Becker LB 1 6'0 222 22 R Notre Dame 52 Dan Neal C 16 6'4 248 29 6 Kentucky 53 Tommy Hart DE 16 6'4 246 33 11 Morris Brown 54 Tom Hicks LB 9 6'4 225 25 3 Illinois 55 Doug Buffone LB 15 6'1 227 34 13 Louisville 57 Don Rives LB 16 6'2 231 27 6 Texas Tech 58 Jerry Muckensturm LB 16 6'4 226 25 3 Arkansas State 59 Gary Campbell LB 16 6'1 218 26 2 Colorado 62 Dan Jiggetts OT 16 6'4 276 24 3 Harvard 63 Jon Morris C 10 6'4 250 36 15 Holy Cross 64 Ted Albrecht OT 15 6'4 255 24 2 California 65 Noah Jackson OG 16 6'2 273 27 4 Tampa 68 Jim Osborne DT 15 6'3 251 29 7 Southern 69 Revie Sorey OG 16 6'2 259 25 4 Illinois 70 Dennis Lick OT 16 6'3 268 24 3 Wisconsin 72 Brad Shearer DT 15 6'3 254 23 R Texas 73 Mike Hartenstine DE 16 6'3 257 25 4 Penn State 74 Jerry Meyers DE 16 6'4 245 24 3 Northern Illinois 75 Jeff Sevy OT 14 6'5 261 27 4 California 76 Ron Rydalch DT 12 6'4 257 26 4 Utah 79 Lionel Antoine OT 9 6'6 267 28 6 Southern Illinois 80 Bo Rather WR 6 6'1 189 28 6 Michigan 82 Alan Page DT 10 6'4 245 33 12 Notre Dame 83 Golden Richards WR 15 6'0 180 27 6 Brigham Young 84 Brian Baschnagel WR 16 6'0 184 24 3 Ohio State 85 Steve Schubert WR 13 5'10 188 27 5 Massachusetts 86 Bob Parsons P 16 6'4 232 28 7 Penn State 87 Mike Cobb TE 13 6'5 248 22 2 Michigan State 88 Greg Latta TE 16 6'3 200 26 4 Morgan State 89 James Scott WR 15 6'1 191 26 3 Trinity Valley C.C.

Per Per Passing Att Cmp Pct Yards Att Cmp TD TD% Int Int% Sack Loss Rating Bob Avellini 264 141 53.4 1,718 6.51 12.2 5 1.9 16 6.1 26 208 54.8 Mike Phipps 83 44 53.0 465 5.60 10.6 2 2.4 10 12.0 6 55 38.1 Vince Evans 3 1 33.3 38 12.67 38.0 0 0.0 1 33.3 2 25 42.4 Roland Harper 1 0 0.0 0 0.00 0.0 0 0.0 1 100.0 0 0 0.0 Bob Parsons 1 0 0.0 0 0.00 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0 39.6

Receiving             Rec  Yards    Avg   TD
Walter Payton          50    480    9.6    0
Roland Harper          43    340    7.9    2
James Scott            42    759   18.1    5
Golden Richards        27    379   14.0    0
Greg Latta             15    159   10.6    0
Steve Schubert          4     51   12.8    0
Brian Baschnagel        2     29   14.5    0
Bo Rather               1     16   16.0    0
Mike Cobb               1      7    7.0    0
Robin Earl              1      1    1.0    0

Rushing               Att  Yards    Avg   TD
Walter Payton         333  1,395    4.2   11
Roland Harper         240    992    4.1    6
Bob Avellini           34     54    1.6    2
Mike Phipps            13     34    2.6    0
Vince Evans             6     23    3.8    0
Robin Earl              3     17    5.7    0
Art Best                2     11    5.5    0
Bob Parsons             1      0    0.0    0
Brian Baschnagel        2      0    0.0    0

Kickoff Returns       Att  Yards    Avg   TD
Brian Baschnagel       20    455   22.8    0
Len Walterscheid       11    335   30.5    0
Wentford Gaines        10    240   24.0    0
Mike Morgan             5    110   22.0    0
Steve Schubert          4     80   20.0    0
Robin Earl              3     48   16.0    0
John Skibinski          3     36   12.0    0
Mike Spivey             2     34   17.0    0
Greg Latta              2     14    7.0    0
Jerry Muckensturm       1      6    6.0    0

Punt Returns          Att  Yards    Avg   FC   TD
Steve Schubert         27    229    8.5   21    1
Virgil Livers          10     31    3.1    0    0
Len Walterscheid        3     24    8.0    0    0
Brian Baschnagel        1      2    2.0    1    0

Punting Punts Yards Avg TB In20 Blk Ret Yards Net Bob Parsons 96 3,549 37.0 8 18 0 45 295 32.2 Kicking 0-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50+ Total PAT Pts Bob Thomas 0/0 7/7 9/11 1/4 0/0 17/22 26/28 77 Defense Sacks Ints Yards TD Doug Buffone 2.0 3 22 0 Gary Campbell 3.0 Gary Fencik 4 77 0 Wentford Gaines 1 0 0 Tommy Hart 7.5 Mike Hartenstine 6.0 Bruce Herron 1.0 Virgil Livers 3 86 1 Jerry Meyers 2.0 Jim Osborne 4.0 Alan Page 11.5 Doug Plank 1 0 0 Don Rives 2 8 0 Ron Rydalch 2.0 Terry Schmidt 2 23 0 Brad Shearer 1.0 Len Walterscheid 1 0 0

1978 Draft: NFL Rnd Ovr Pos Player Games College 3 74 DT Brad Shearer 34 Texas 6 139 RB John Skibinski 44 Purdue [pick acquired from KC] 6 158 DE Mekeli Ieremia 2 Brigham Young 7 185 WR Herman Jones Ohio State 8 212 TE George Freitas California 9 244 LB Mike Martin Kentucky 10 271 LB Ben Zambiasi Georgia 11 298 DE Walt Underwood USC 12 325 LB Lew Sibley LSU

Traded draft picks: #1 to LA via CLE (Elvis Peacock), #2 to SF (Walt Downing), #4 to KC (Pete Woods), #5 to CIN (Rob Hertel)

Transactions:

04-12-1978	traded Wally Chambers to Buccaneers for Tampa's #1 pick in the 1979 draft and Bob Moore (acquired 4/14/78)
04-20-1978	traded Chicago's #2 pick in the 1978 draft to 49ers for Tommy Hart
05-02-1978	traded Chicago's #4 pick in the 1978 draft to Chiefs for Houston's #5 pick and Kansas City's #6 pick in the 1978 draft
07-20-1978	Roger Stillwell retired
08-03-1978	Dan Peiffer retired
08-08-1978	Billy Newsome retired
08-23-1978	traded Chicago's #4 pick in the 1979 draft to Bengals for Mike Cobb
08-28-1978	placed Johnny Musso on injured reserve
08-28-1978	placed Waymond Bryant on injured reserve
08-29-1978	claimed Doug Becker on waivers from Steelers
09-1978	traded Chicago's #5 pick in the 1979 draft and #3 pick in the 1980 draft to Cowboys for Golden Richards
09-06-1978	traded Alvin Maxson to Steelers for past considerations
10-11-1978	claimed Alan Page on waivers from Vikings

1978 Regular Season Game Log:   Click on the date to view the game summary.

Date        Opponent                   Result        Record
09/03/78    vs St. Louis Cardinals     W 17-10       1-0-0
09/10/78    at San Francisco 49ers     W 16-13       2-0-0
09/17/78    at Detroit Lions           W 19-0        3-0-0
09/25/78    vs Minnesota Vikings       L 20-24       3-1-0
10/01/78    vs Oakland Raiders         L 19-25 (OT)  3-2-0
10/08/78    at Green Bay Packers       L 14-24       3-3-0
10/16/78    at Denver Broncos          L 7-16        3-4-0
10/22/78    at Tampa Bay Buccaneers    L 19-33       3-5-0
10/29/78    vs Detroit Lions           L 17-21       3-6-0
11/05/78    vs Seattle Seahawks        L 29-31       3-7-0
11/12/78    at Minnesota Vikings       L 14-17       3-8-0
11/19/78    vs Atlanta Falcons         W 13-7        4-8-0
11/26/78    vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers    W 14-3        5-8-0
12/04/78    at San Diego Chargers      L 7-40        5-9-0
12/10/78    vs Green Bay Packers       W 14-0        6-9-0
12/16/78    at Washington Redskins     W 14-10       7-9-0

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