1978 San Francisco 49ers: 2-14-0
Previous Season Next SeasonHome record: 2-6-0 (116 points scored, 136 allowed) Road record: 0-8-0 (103 points scored, 214 allowed) Head Coaches: Pete McCulley (1-8-0), Fred O'Connor (1-6-0) 219 points scored (28th of 28 teams), 350 points allowed (23rd) 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: 190 435 1,956 (25) 4.10 9 36 585 2,091 (21) 3.6 14 4,047 (27) 63 Defense: 219 413 2,659 (18) 5.94 20 18 649 2,365 (17) 3.6 17 5,024 (21) 45
Team roster (starters in bold): # Player Pos GP Hgt Wgt Age Exp College 10 Mike Connell P 16 6'1 200 22 R Cincinnati 14 Ray Wersching K 16 5'11 210 28 6 California 17 Steve DeBerg QB 12 6'2 205 24 1 San Jose State 19 Scott Bull QB 16 6'5 211 25 3 Arkansas 21 Larry Jones WR 9 5'10 170 27 5 Northeast Missouri State 22 Eddie Lewis DB 16 6'0 174 24 3 Kansas 23 Bruce Threadgill DB 14 6'0 190 22 R Mississippi State 24 Chuck Crist DB 15 6'2 205 27 7 Penn State 25 Wonder Monds DB 16 6'3 215 26 1 Nebraska 26 Bob Jury DB 15 6'1 188 23 R Pittsburgh 30 Dave Williams RB 16 6'2 200 24 2 Colorado 31 Earl Carr RB 14 6'0 224 23 R Florida 32 O.J. Simpson RB 10 6'2 212 31 10 Southern California 33 Greg Boykin RB 16 6'0 225 24 2 Northwestern 34 Ed Bradley LB 16 6'2 225 28 7 Wake Forest 35 Elliott Walker RB 9 5'11 193 22 R Pittsburgh 36 Paul Hofer RB 16 6'0 193 26 3 Mississippi 38 Bob Ferrell RB 16 6'0 219 25 3 UCLA 41 Mike Baldassin LB 16 6'1 218 23 2 Washington 42 Ricky Odom DB 3 6'0 183 22 R Southern California 42 Anthony Leonard DB 12 5'11 165 25 3 Virginia Union 49 Vern Roberson DB 16 6'0 195 26 2 Grambling 50 Joe Harris LB 16 6'1 225 25 2 Georgia Tech 51 Randy Cross C 9 6'3 250 24 3 UCLA 53 Dean Moore LB 16 6'2 210 23 R Iowa 55 Bruce Elia LB 16 6'1 220 25 4 Ohio State 56 Fred Quillan C 14 6'5 240 22 R Oregon 57 Dan Bunz LB 16 6'4 230 23 R Long Beach State 58 Mark Nichols LB 15 6'3 225 22 R Colorado State 60 Steve Knutson OG 15 6'3 254 27 3 Southern California 62 Walt Downing OG 16 6'3 254 22 R Michigan 64 Kyle Davis C 7 6'2 240 26 2 Oklahoma 65 Ernie Hughes OG 15 6'3 250 23 R Notre Dame 67 Ron Singleton OT 14 6'7 275 26 3 Grambling 68 John Ayers OG 16 6'5 247 25 2 West Texas State 71 Keith Fahnhorst OT 15 6'6 263 26 5 Minnesota 72 Cleveland Elam DT 12 6'4 251 26 4 Tennessee State 74 Jimmy Webb DT 16 6'5 245 26 4 Mississippi State 75 Ed Galigher DT 15 6'4 247 28 7 UCLA 76 Willie McCray DE 16 6'5 234 25 R Troy State 78 Archie Reese DE 16 6'3 263 22 R Clemson 80 Terry LeCount WR 3 5'10 172 22 R Florida 81 Ken MacAfee TE 13 6'5 250 22 R Notre Dame 82 Lon Boyett TE 3 6'6 240 24 1 Cal State-Northridge 83 Kenny Harrison WR 8 6'0 164 24 3 Southern Methodist 84 Elmo Boyd WR 9 6'0 188 24 R Eastern Kentucky 84 Mike Shumann WR 6 6'0 175 23 R Florida State 85 Paul Seal TE 14 6'4 223 26 5 Michigan 86 Cedrick Hardman DE 16 6'4 244 30 9 North Texas State 87 Jack Steptoe WR 6 6'1 175 22 R Utah 88 Freddie Solomon WR 16 5'11 181 25 4 Tampa
Per Per Passing Att Cmp Pct Yards Att Cmp TD TD% Int Int% Sack Loss Rating Steve DeBerg 302 137 45.4 1,570 5.20 11.5 8 2.6 22 7.3 17 156 40.0 Scott Bull 121 48 39.7 651 5.38 13.6 1 0.8 11 9.1 22 160 22.4 Freddie Solomon 10 5 50.0 85 8.50 17.0 0 0.0 1 10.0 3 34 39.6 Bruce Threadgill 2 0 0.0 0 0.00 0.0 0 0.0 2 100.0 0 0 0.0
Receiving Rec Yards Avg TD Freddie Solomon 31 458 14.8 2 Ken MacAfee 22 205 9.3 1 Paul Seal 21 370 17.6 2 O.J. Simpson 21 172 8.2 2 Greg Boykin 19 112 5.9 0 Kenny Harrison 16 320 20.0 0 Bob Ferrell 16 123 7.7 0 Paul Hofer 12 170 14.2 0 Terry LeCount 10 131 13.1 0 Dave Williams 10 63 6.3 0 Elmo Boyd 9 115 12.8 1 Jack Steptoe 2 46 23.0 1 Larry Jones 1 21 21.0 0 | Rushing Att Yards Avg TD O.J. Simpson 161 593 3.7 1 Bob Ferrell 125 471 3.8 1 Paul Hofer 121 465 3.8 7 Greg Boykin 102 361 3.5 2 Scott Bull 29 100 3.4 1 Freddie Solomon 14 70 5.0 1 Steve DeBerg 15 20 1.3 1 Dave Williams 15 18 1.2 0 Earl Carr 1 2 2.0 0 Bruce Elia 1 0 0.0 0 Larry Jones 1 -9 -9.0 0 |
Kickoff Returns Att Yards Avg TD Dave Williams 34 745 21.9 1 Paul Hofer 18 386 21.4 0 Terry LeCount 5 91 18.2 0 Ernie Hughes 4 53 13.2 0 Mark Nichols 3 39 13.0 0 Greg Boykin 3 37 12.3 0 Elliott Walker 2 25 12.5 0 Walt Downing 2 13 6.5 0 Bob Ferrell 1 24 24.0 0 Fred Quillan 1 8 8.0 0 | Punt Returns Att Yards Avg FC TD Jack Steptoe 11 129 11.7 0 0 Larry Jones 10 86 8.6 1 0 Freddie Solomon 9 35 3.9 5 0 Mike Shumann 8 40 5.0 1 0 Anthony Leonard 8 26 3.2 5 0 Vern Roberson 1 7 7.0 0 0 |
1978 Draft: NFL Rnd Ovr Pos Player Games College 1 7 TE Ken MacAfee 29 Notre Dame 1 24 LB Dan Bunz 88 Long Beach State [pick acquired from MIA] 2 47 OG Walt Downing 83 Michigan [pick acquired from CHI] 3 79 OG Ernie Hughes 45 Notre Dame [pick acquired from BAL] 4 91 WR Terry LeCount 72 Florida 5 127 DT Archie Reese 83 Clemson [pick acquired from HOU via KC, CHI] 5 133 DB Bruce Threadgill 14 Mississippi State [pick acquired from MIA] 6 148 RB Elliott Walker 9 Pittsburgh 7 175 C Fred Quillan 143 Oregon 9 229 DB Herman Redden Howard 9 233 LB Dean Moore 16 Iowa [pick acquired from DET] 9 249 OT Steve McDaniels Notre Dame [pick acquired from DEN] 10 260 P Mike Connell 48 Cincinnati 11 287 DE Willie McCray 16 Troy State 12 314 OT Dan Irons Texas Tech
Traded draft picks: #2 to BUF (Scott Hutchinson), #3 to BUF (Danny Fulton), #5 to BAL (Frank Myers), #8 to WAS (Walker Lee)
Transactions:
| 03-24-1978 | traded San Francisco's #2 and #3 picks in the 1978 draft, their #1 and #4 picks in the 1979 draft, and their #2 pick in the 1980 draft to Bills for O.J. Simpson |
| 04-14-1978 | traded Tom Mitchell and Minnesota's #6 pick in the 1978 draft to Redskins for Larry Jones |
| 04-17-1978 | traded Delvin Williams to Dolphins for Vern Roberson, Freddie Solomon and Miami's #1 and #5 picks in the 1978 draft |
| 04-20-1978 | traded Tommy Hart to Bears for Chicago's #2 pick in the 1978 draft |
| 04-25-1978 | traded Ralph McGill to Saints for Greg Boykin |
| 04-27-1978 | traded Dave Washington to Lions for Detroit's #5 pick in the 1979 draft |
| 05-03-1978 | traded San Francisco's #8 pick in the 1978 draft to Redskins for Joe Harris |
| 05-04-1978 | traded San Francisco's #8 pick in the 1979 draft to Packers for Steve Knutson |
| 05-06-1978 | traded future considerations to Saints for Kurt Schumacher |
| 05-11-1978 | Jets claimed Anthony Terry on waivers |
| 07-06-1978 | traded Jim O'Bradovich to Buccaneers for Tampa's #10 pick in the 1979 draft |
| 07-10-1978 | Rams claimed Windlan Hall on waivers |
| 07-23-1978 | Buccaneers claimed Kurt Schumacher on waivers |
| 08-04-1978 | traded Jim Lash and Steve Lawson to Bills for future considerations |
| 08-15-1978 | traded Skip Vanderbundt to Saints for Chuck Crist |
| 08-17-1978 | claimed Bruce Gibson on waivers from Lions |
| 08-25-1978 | Lions claimed Mike Burns on waivers |
| 08-28-1978 | traded San Francisco's #3 pick in the 1979 draft to Seahawks for Bob Jury and Dallas' #3 pick in the 1979 draft |
| 08-28-1978 | placed Gene Washington on injured reserve |
| 08-29-1978 | Lions claimed Gene Washington on waivers |
| 09-27-1978 | placed Terry LeCount on injured reserve |
| 11-27-1978 | Lions claimed Tony Leonard on waivers |
| 11-30-1978 | placed Ken McAfee on injured reserve |
| 11-30-1978 | placed O.J. Simpson on injured reserve |
1978 Regular Season Game Log: Click on the date to view the game summary. Date Opponent Result Record 09/03/78 at Cleveland Browns L 7-24 0-1-0 09/10/78 vs Chicago Bears L 13-16 0-2-0 09/17/78 at Houston Oilers L 19-20 0-3-0 09/24/78 at New York Giants L 10-27 0-4-0 10/01/78 vs Cincinnati Bengals W 28-12 1-4-0 10/08/78 at Los Angeles Rams L 10-27 1-5-0 10/15/78 vs New Orleans Saints L 7-14 1-6-0 10/22/78 vs Atlanta Falcons L 17-20 1-7-0 10/29/78 at Washington Redskins L 20-38 1-8-0 11/05/78 at Atlanta Falcons L 10-21 1-9-0 11/12/78 vs St. Louis Cardinals L 10-16 1-10-0 11/19/78 vs Los Angeles Rams L 28-31 1-11-0 11/27/78 vs Pittsburgh Steelers L 7-24 1-12-0 12/03/78 at New Orleans Saints L 13-24 1-13-0 12/10/78 vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers W 6-3 2-13-0 12/17/78 at Detroit Lions L 14-33 2-14-0