1978 San Francisco 49ers Statistics
National Football League (NFL)
Team Record: 2-14
Finishing 4th in the NFL's West Division of the National Football Conference
Coach: Pete McCulley (1-8)
Coach: Fred O'Connor (1-6)
Location: San Francisco, California
1978 San Francisco 49ers RosterTeam Record: 2-14
Finishing 4th in the NFL's West Division of the National Football Conference
Coach: Pete McCulley (1-8)
Coach: Fred O'Connor (1-6)
Location: San Francisco, California
1978 San Francisco 49ers Results
The San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League ended the 1978 season with a record of 2 wins and 14 losses, finishing fourth in the NFL's West Division of the National Football Conference.
The 49ers struggled to score 219 points, worst in the circuit, and the defense allowed 350. O.J. Simpson carried the ball for a team-leading 593 yards for San Francisco, while Bob Ferrell and Paul Hofer additionally contributed to the rushing attack.
Steve DeBerg tossed for 1,570 yards. Freddie Solomon grabbed 31 passes for 458 yards, while Paul Seal provided receiving help as well.
The opportunistic defense pounced on 45 turnovers. Chuck Crist picked off 6 opponent throws.
Pete McCulley and Fred O'Connor 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steve DeBerg | 302 | 137 | 45.4 | 1570 | 5.2 | 8 | 2.6 | 22 | 7.3 | 58 | 17 | 156 | 40.0 |
| Scott Bull | 121 | 48 | 39.7 | 651 | 5.4 | 1 | 0.8 | 11 | 9.1 | 48 | 22 | 160 | 22.4 |
| Freddie Solomon | 10 | 5 | 50.0 | 85 | 8.5 | 0 | 0.0 | 1 | 10.0 | 30 | 3 | 34 | 39.6 |
| Bruce Threadgill | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 2 | 100.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Totals | 435 | 190 | 43.7 | 2306 | 5.3 | 9 | 2.1 | 36 | 8.3 | 58 | 42 | 350 |
Rushing:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| O.J. Simpson | 161 | 593 | 3.7 | 34 | 1 |
| Bob Ferrell | 125 | 471 | 3.8 | 20 | 1 |
| Paul Hofer | 121 | 465 | 3.8 | 40 | 7 |
| Greg Boykin | 102 | 361 | 3.5 | 23 | 2 |
| Scott Bull | 29 | 100 | 3.4 | 15 | 1 |
| Freddie Solomon | 14 | 70 | 5.0 | 17 | 1 |
| Steve DeBerg | 15 | 20 | 1.3 | 7 | 1 |
| Dave Williams | 15 | 18 | 1.2 | 6 | 0 |
| Earl Carr | 1 | 2 | 2.0 | 2 | 0 |
| Bruce Elia | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Larry Jones | 1 | -9 | -9.0 | -9 | 0 |
| Totals | 585 | 2091 | 3.6 | 40 | 14 |
Receiving:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Freddie Solomon | 31 | 458 | 14.8 | 58 | 2 |
| Ken MacAfee | 22 | 205 | 9.3 | 22 | 1 |
| Paul Seal | 21 | 370 | 17.6 | 41 | 2 |
| O.J. Simpson | 21 | 172 | 8.2 | 19 | 2 |
| Greg Boykin | 19 | 112 | 5.9 | 22 | 0 |
| Kenny Harrison | 16 | 320 | 20.0 | 50 | 0 |
| Bob Ferrell | 16 | 123 | 7.7 | 14 | 0 |
| Paul Hofer | 12 | 170 | 14.2 | 46 | 0 |
| Terry LeCount | 10 | 131 | 13.1 | 30 | 0 |
| Dave Williams | 10 | 63 | 6.3 | 13 | 0 |
| Elmo Boyd | 9 | 115 | 12.8 | 32 | 1 |
| Jack Steptoe | 2 | 46 | 23.0 | 35 | 1 |
| Larry Jones | 1 | 21 | 21.0 | 21 | 0 |
| Totals | 190 | 2306 | 12.1 | 58 | 9 |
Kicking:
Punting:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mike Connell | 96 | 3583 | 37.3 | 59 |
| Totals | 96 | 3583 | 37.3 | 59 |
Punt Returns:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jack Steptoe | 11 | 129 | 11.7 | 28 | 0 |
| Larry Jones | 10 | 86 | 8.6 | 52 | 0 |
| Mike Shumann | 8 | 40 | 5.0 | 36 | 0 |
| Freddie Solomon | 9 | 35 | 3.9 | 11 | 0 |
| Tony Leonard | 8 | 26 | 3.2 | 14 | 0 |
| Vern Roberson | 1 | 7 | 7.0 | 7 | 0 |
| Totals | 47 | 323 | 6.9 | 52 | 0 |
Kick Returns:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dave Williams | 34 | 745 | 21.9 | 89 | 1 |
| Paul Hofer | 18 | 386 | 21.4 | 40 | 0 |
| Terry LeCount | 5 | 91 | 18.2 | 23 | 0 |
| Ernie Hughes | 4 | 53 | 13.2 | 17 | 0 |
| Mark Nichols | 3 | 39 | 13.0 | 20 | 0 |
| Greg Boykin | 3 | 37 | 12.3 | 25 | 0 |
| Elliott Walker | 2 | 25 | 12.5 | 23 | 0 |
| Bob Ferrell | 1 | 24 | 24.0 | 24 | 0 |
| Walt Downing | 2 | 13 | 6.5 | 13 | 0 |
| Fred Quillan | 1 | 8 | 8.0 | 8 | 0 |
| Totals | 73 | 1421 | 19.5 | 89 | 1 |
Interceptions:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chuck Crist | 6 | 159 | 26.5 | 32 | 0 |
| Tony Leonard | 4 | 44 | 11.0 | 30 | 1 |
| Eddie Lewis | 3 | 17 | 5.7 | 11 | 0 |
| Ricky Odom | 2 | 19 | 9.5 | 19 | 0 |
| Vern Roberson | 1 | 31 | 31.0 | 31 | 0 |
| Dan Bunz | 1 | 13 | 13.0 | 13 | 0 |
| Mark Nichols | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 18 | 283 | 15.7 | 32 | 1 |
Defense and Fumbles:
| Player | Tackle | Brup | Fum | FRec | FYds | FTD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scott Bull | 6 | 4 | -8 | 0 | |||
| Paul Hofer | 4 | 4 | 3 | 0 | |||
| Freddie Solomon | 5 | 4 | -2 | 0 | |||
| Archie Reese | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Bob Jury | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Dave Williams | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Ed Galigher | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Dan Bunz | 0 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 0 | |
| Joe Harris | 0 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Vern Roberson | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Tony Leonard | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Steve DeBerg | 9 | 2 | -5 | 0 | |||
| Ken MacAfee | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Jimmy Webb | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| John Ayers | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Willie McCray | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| O.J. Simpson | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Ed Bradley | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Cedrick Hardman | 0 | 1 | 13 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Keith Fahnhorst | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Walt Downing | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Eddie Lewis | 0 | 0 | 1 | 24 | 0 | 0 | |
| Chuck Crist | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Mike Connell | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Elliott Walker | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Dean Moore | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Bob Ferrell | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Mike Shumann | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Jack Steptoe | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Bruce Elia | 1 | 0 | -15 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Elmo Boyd | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Randy Cross | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Larry Jones | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Greg Boykin | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Totals | 0 | 0 | 56 | 51 | 29 | 0 | 0 |
Total Scoring:
| Touchdowns | Other | Total | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Rush | Rec | Punt | Kick | MFG | Int | Fum | Other | FG | X/C | Single | 2Pt | Saf | Points |
| Ray Wersching | 15 | 24 | 0 | 69 | ||||||||||
| Paul Hofer | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 42 | |||||||
| O.J. Simpson | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | ||||||||
| Freddie Solomon | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | |||||||
| Paul Seal | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | |||||||||
| Greg Boykin | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | |||||||
| Ken MacAfee | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |||||||||
| Dave Williams | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |||||||
| Elmo Boyd | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |||||||||
| Steve DeBerg | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |||||||||
| Scott Bull | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |||||||||
| Bob Ferrell | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |||||||
| Jack Steptoe | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||||||||
| Tony Leonard | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||||||||
| Totals | 14 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 219 |
