1978 Chicago Bears Statistics
National Football League (NFL)
Team Record: 7-9
Finishing 3rd in the NFL's Central Division of the National Football Conference
Coach: Neill Armstrong (7-9)
Location: Chicago, Illinois
1978 Chicago Bears RosterTeam Record: 7-9
Finishing 3rd in the NFL's Central Division of the National Football Conference
Coach: Neill Armstrong (7-9)
Location: Chicago, Illinois
1978 Chicago Bears Results
The Chicago Bears of the National Football League ended the 1978 season with a record of 7 wins and 9 losses, finishing third in the NFL's Central Division of the National Football Conference.
The Bears scored 253 points, and the defense surrendered 274. Walter Payton rushed for a team-leading 1,395 yards for Chicago.
Bob Avellini threw for 1,718 yards. Walter Payton topped all receivers, hauling in 50 balls, while James Scott added 759 receiving yards. Roland Harper contributed to the receiving game, too.
Gary Fencik picked off 4 opponent throws.
Neill Armstrong coached the team.
Click on column headings to sort.
Passing:
| Player | Att | Comp | Comp % | Yds | Yds/Att | TDs | TD % | Ints | Int % | Long | Sacked | Yds Lost | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bob Avellini | 264 | 141 | 53.4 | 1718 | 6.5 | 5 | 1.9 | 16 | 6.1 | 61 | 26 | 208 | 54.8 |
| Mike Phipps | 83 | 44 | 53.0 | 465 | 5.6 | 2 | 2.4 | 10 | 12.0 | 35 | 6 | 55 | 38.1 |
| Vince Evans | 3 | 1 | 33.3 | 38 | 12.7 | 0 | 0.0 | 1 | 33.3 | 38 | 2 | 25 | 42.4 |
| Bob Parsons | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 39.6 |
| Roland Harper | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1 | 100.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Totals | 352 | 186 | 52.8 | 2221 | 6.3 | 7 | 2.0 | 28 | 8.0 | 61 | 34 | 288 |
Rushing:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walter Payton | 333 | 1395 | 4.2 | 76 | 11 |
| Roland Harper | 240 | 992 | 4.1 | 31 | 6 |
| Bob Avellini | 34 | 54 | 1.6 | 10 | 2 |
| Mike Phipps | 13 | 34 | 2.6 | 10 | 0 |
| Vince Evans | 6 | 23 | 3.8 | 13 | 0 |
| Robin Earl | 3 | 17 | 5.7 | 9 | 0 |
| Art Best | 2 | 11 | 5.5 | 6 | 0 |
| Bob Parsons | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Brian Baschnagel | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 634 | 2526 | 4.0 | 76 | 19 |
Receiving:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walter Payton | 50 | 480 | 9.6 | 61 | 0 |
| Roland Harper | 43 | 340 | 7.9 | 33 | 2 |
| James Scott | 42 | 759 | 18.1 | 59 | 5 |
| Golden Richards | 27 | 379 | 14.0 | 52 | 0 |
| Greg Latta | 15 | 159 | 10.6 | 21 | 0 |
| Steve Schubert | 4 | 51 | 12.8 | 19 | 0 |
| Brian Baschnagel | 2 | 29 | 14.5 | 22 | 0 |
| Bo Rather | 1 | 16 | 16.0 | 16 | 0 |
| Mike Cobb | 1 | 7 | 7.0 | 7 | 0 |
| Robin Earl | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 1 | 0 |
| Totals | 186 | 2221 | 11.9 | 61 | 7 |
Kicking:
Punting:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bob Parsons | 96 | 3549 | 37.0 | 54 |
| Totals | 96 | 3549 | 37.0 | 54 |
Punt Returns:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steve Schubert | 27 | 229 | 8.5 | 73 | 1 |
| Virgil Livers | 10 | 31 | 3.1 | 13 | 0 |
| Len Walterscheid | 3 | 24 | 8.0 | 11 | 0 |
| Brian Baschnagel | 1 | 2 | 2.0 | 2 | 0 |
| Totals | 41 | 286 | 7.0 | 73 | 1 |
Kick Returns:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brian Baschnagel | 20 | 455 | 22.8 | 6 | 0 |
| Len Walterscheid | 11 | 335 | 30.5 | 81 | 0 |
| Wentford Gaines | 10 | 240 | 24.0 | 37 | 0 |
| Mike Morgan | 5 | 110 | 22.0 | 24 | 0 |
| Steve Schubert | 4 | 80 | 20.0 | 27 | 0 |
| Robin Earl | 3 | 48 | 16.0 | 20 | 0 |
| John Skibinski | 3 | 36 | 12.0 | 20 | 0 |
| Mike Spivey | 2 | 34 | 17.0 | 23 | 0 |
| Greg Latta | 2 | 14 | 7.0 | 8 | 0 |
| Jerry Muckensturm | 1 | 6 | 6.0 | 6 | 0 |
| Totals | 61 | 1358 | 22.3 | 81 | 0 |
Interceptions:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gary Fencik | 4 | 77 | 19.2 | 59 | 0 |
| Virgil Livers | 3 | 86 | 28.7 | 60 | 1 |
| Doug Buffone | 3 | 22 | 7.3 | 16 | 0 |
| Terry Schmidt | 2 | 23 | 11.5 | 23 | 0 |
| Don Rives | 2 | 8 | 4.0 | 8 | 0 |
| Len Walterscheid | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Wentford Gaines | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Doug Plank | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 17 | 216 | 12.7 | 60 | 1 |
Defense and Fumbles:
| Player | Tackle | Brup | Fum | FRec | FYds | FTD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mike Hartenstine | 0 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Don Rives | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Brian Baschnagel | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Walter Payton | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Gary Fencik | 0 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 0 | 0 | |
| Gary Campbell | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Bob Parsons | 2 | 2 | -17 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Doug Plank | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Tom Hicks | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Mike Spivey | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Ted Albrecht | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Jerry Meyers | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Revie Sorey | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Bo Rather | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Len Walterscheid | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| John Skibinski | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Noah Jackson | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Terry Schmidt | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Virgil Livers | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Roland Harper | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Bob Avellini | 5 | 0 | -11 | 0 | |||
| Wentford Gaines | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| James Scott | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Jon Morris | 2 | 0 | -50 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Golden Richards | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Doug Buffone | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Totals | 0 | 0 | 22 | 28 | -52 | 0 | 0 |
Total Scoring:
| Touchdowns | Other | Total | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Rush | Rec | Punt | Kick | MFG | Int | Fum | Other | FG | X/C | Single | 2Pt | Saf | Points |
| Bob Thomas | 17 | 26 | 0 | 77 | ||||||||||
| Walter Payton | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 66 | ||||||||
| Roland Harper | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 48 | ||||||||
| James Scott | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 | |||||||||
| Bob Avellini | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | |||||||||
| Steve Schubert | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |||||||
| Virgil Livers | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||||||||
| Mike Spivey | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||||||||
| Tommy Hart | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |||||||||
| Totals | 19 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 17 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 253 |
