1970 Chicago Bears season

1970 Chicago Bears season
OwnerGeorge Halas
Head coachJim Dooley
Home fieldWrigley Field
Results
Record6–8
Division place4th NFC Central
Playoff finishDid not qualify

The 1970 Chicago Bears season was their 51st regular season completed in the National Football League. The team finished with a 6–8 record, a significant improvement over the 1–13 record of the previous season, the worst in franchise history.

After losing the coin flip for the number one pick in the 1970 NFL draft (which Pittsburgh used to draft Terry Bradshaw), the Bears traded the 2nd pick to the Green Bay Packers for Lee Roy Caffey, Elijah Pitts, and Bob Hyland.[1]

Offseason

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NFL Draft

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Main article: 1970 NFL draft
1970 Chicago Bears draft
Round Pick Player Position College Notes
3 58 George Farmer  Wide receiver UCLA
4 79 Lynn Larson  Tackle Kansas State
4 100 Ross Brupbacher  Linebacker Texas A&M
6 133 Bob Cutburth  Quarterback Oklahoma State
6 139 Jeff Curchin  Tackle Florida State
8 183 Dana Stephenson  Defensive back Nebraska
9 210 Linzy Cole  Wide receiver TCU
10 235 Glen Holloway  Guard North Texas State
11 262 Ted Rose  Tight end Northern Michigan
12 287 Butch Davis  Defensive back Missouri
13 314 Jimmy Gunn  Defensive back USC
14 339 Jim Morgan  Wide receiver Henderson State
15 366 Phil Abraira  Defensive back Florida State
16 391 Robert Helterbran  Guard North Texas State
17 418 Joe Brunson  Defensive tackle Furman
      Made roster  

Roster

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1970 Chicago Bears roster
Quarterbacks (QB)

Running backs (RB)

Wide receivers (WR)

Tight ends (TE)

Offensive linemen (OL)

Defensive linemen (DL)

Linebackers (LB)

Defensive backs (DB)

Special teams

Reserve

Rookies in italics

Regular season

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As an experiment, the Bears hosted their first home game of the season at Northwestern University's Dyche Stadium in Evanston. The Bears' Wrigley Field landlord, the Chicago Cubs, were in a pennant race and might play in the National League Championship Series and World Series, and that Wrigley Field would be unavailable (at least for installation of temporary seating in right and center field) until well into October.[5] (The Cubs were in contention in the National League East until the final week of the 1970 season, thus rendering the anticipation moot.)[6][7]

In addition, the NFL was pressuring the Bears to move out of Wrigley Field, because it had no lights and its seating capacity was under 50,000 (even with additional seating in right field for football games), stipulations of the AFL–NFL merger agreement. The Bears planned to move to Evanston for the 1971 season, but Evanston residents petitioned city officials to block the move, and the Big Ten Conference ultimately barred the Bears from using Dyche Stadium;[8] the Bears moved to Chicago's Soldier Field.[9]

Schedule

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Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance
1 September 19 at New York Giants W 24–16 1–0 Yankee Stadium 62,936
2 September 27 Philadelphia Eagles W 20–16 2–0 Dyche Stadium 53,463
3 October 5 at Detroit Lions L 14–28 2–1 Tiger Stadium 58,210
4 October 11 Minnesota Vikings L 0–24 2–2 Wrigley Field 45,485
5 October 18 San Diego Chargers L 7–20 2–3 Wrigley Field 45,278
6 October 25 Detroit Lions L 10–16 2–4 Wrigley Field 45,632
7 November 1 at Atlanta Falcons W 23–14 3–4 Atlanta Stadium 58,850
8 November 8 San Francisco 49ers L 16–37 3–5 Wrigley Field 45,607
9 November 15 at Green Bay Packers L 19–20 3–6 Lambeau Field 56,263
10 November 22 Buffalo Bills W 31–13 4–6 Wrigley Field 41,015
11 November 29 at Baltimore Colts L 20–21 4–7 Memorial Stadium 60,240
12 December 5 at Minnesota Vikings L 13–16 4–8 Metropolitan Stadium 47,900
13 December 13 Green Bay Packers W 35–17 5–8 Wrigley Field 44,957
14 December 20 at New Orleans Saints W 24–3 6–8 Tulane Stadium 63,518
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Season summary

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Week 1 at Giants

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Week One: Chicago Bears (0–0) at New York Giants (0–0)
Quarter 1 2 34Total
Bears 7 3 7724
Giants 10 3 0316

at Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York

Game information

Week 2

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1 234Total
Eagles 6 307 16
• Bears 7 1003 20
Scoring summary
1CHICecil Turner 96-yard kickoff return (Mac Percival kick)Bears 7–0
1PHIGary Ballman 7-yard pass from Norm Snead (kick failed)Bears 7–6
2CHIMac Percival 17-yard field goalBears 10–6
2PHIMark Moseley 42-yard field goalBears 10–9
2CHIDick Gordon 12-yard pass from Ronnie Bull (Mac Percival kick)Bears 17–9
4PHILee Bouggess 10-yard run (Mark Moseley kick)Bears 17–16
4CHIMac Percival 36-yard field goalBears 20–16

[10]

Week 3

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Week 4

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Week 5

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Week 6

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Week 7

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1 234Total
• Bears 10 373 23
Falcons 0 770 14
  • Date: November 1
  • Location: Atlanta Stadium, Atlanta
  • Game start: 1:00 p.m.
  • Game weather: 62 °F (17 °C); wind 7 mph (11 km/h)
Scoring summary
Q1CHIShy 1 yard run (Percival kick)CHI 7–0
Q1CHIPercival 30 yard field goalCHI 10–0
Q2ATLGipson 20 yard pass from Berry (Vinyard kick)CHI 10–7
Q2CHIPercival 47 yard field goalCHI 13–7
Q3ATLMitchell 17 yard pass from Berry (Vinyard kick)ATL 14–13
Q3CHITurner 94 yard kickoff return (Percival kick)CHI 20–14
Q4CHIPercival 31 yard field goalCHI 23–14

[11]

Week 8

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Week 9

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Week 10

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1 234Total
Bills 6 007 13
• Bears 0 14710 31
  • Date: November 22
  • Location: Wrigley Field • Chicago
  • Game start: 1:00 p.m. CST
  • Game weather: 43 °F (6 °C) • Wind 22 mph (35 km/h)
  • Referee: John McDonough
Scoring summary
1BUFButch Byrd 23-yard interception return (kick failed)Bills 6–0
2CHIDick Gordon 36-yard pass from Bobby Douglass (Mac Percival kick)Bears 7–6
2CHIJim Seymour 36-yard pass from Bobby Douglass (Mac Percival kick)Bears 14–6
3CHIJim Seymour 53-yard pass from Bobby Douglass (Mac Percival kick)Bears 21–6
4BUFMarlin Briscoe 17-yard pass from Dennis Shaw (Grant Guthrie kick)Bears 21–13
4CHIMac Percival 37-yard field goalBears 24–13
4CHIDick Gordon 28-yard pass from Bobby Douglass (Mac Percival kick)Bears 31–13

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Week 11

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Week 12

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Week 13

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Green Bay Packers at Chicago Bears
1 234Total
Packers 3 0014 17
• Bears 14 777 35
  • Date: Sunday, December 13
  • Location: Wrigley Field, Chicago
  • Game start: 1:00 p.m. CST
  • Game weather: 32 °F (0 °C), wind 11 mph (18 km/h)
  • Referee: Fred Silva
Scoring summary
1BearsDick Gordon 15-yard pass from Jack Concannon (Mac Percival kick)Bears 7–0
1BearsGeorge Farmer 42-yard pass from Jack Concannon (Mac Percival kick)Bears 14–0
1PackersDale Livingston 32-yard field goalBears 14–3
2BearsJack Concannon 15-yard run (Mac Percival kick)Bears 21–3
3BearsDick Gordon 25-yard pass from Jack Concannon (Mac Percival kick)Bears 28–3
4PackersDonny Anderson 7-yard run (Dale Livingston kick)Bears 28–10
4BearsRay Ogden 6-yard pass from Jack Concannon (Mac Percival kick)Bears 35–10
4PackersJohn Hilton 29-yard pass from Rick Norton (Dale Livingston kick)Bears 35–17

Week 14

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1 234Total
• Bears 0 7314 24
Saints 0 300 3
Scoring summary
Q2NODempsey 47 yard field goalNO 3–0
Q2CHISeymour 22 yard pass from Concannon (Percival kick)CHI 7–3
Q3CHIPercival 50 yard field goalCHI 10–3
Q4CHISeymour 2 yard pass from Concannon (Percival kick)CHI 17–3
Q4CHIGordon 14 yard pass from Concannon (Percival kick)CHI 24–3

[13]

Standings

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NFC Central
W L T PCT DIV CONF PF PA STK
Minnesota Vikings 12 2 0 .857 5–1 10–1 335 143 W3
Detroit Lions 10 4 0 .714 4–2 7–4 347 202 W5
Green Bay Packers 6 8 0 .429 2–4 4–7 196 293 L2
Chicago Bears 6 8 0 .429 1–5 5–6 256 261 W2

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

References

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  1. ^ "These deals didn't work". Chicago Tribune. August 25, 2004.
  2. ^ "Cancer fatal to Piccolo of Bears at 26". Milwaukee Journal. press dispatches. June 16, 1970. p. 13, part 2.[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ "Brian Piccolo is dead at 26". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. June 17, 1970. p. 19.
  4. ^ "Sayers, Halas praise Piccolo's courage". Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. June 17, 1970. p. 1-part 2.
  5. ^ "Historical Newspapers from 1700s–2000s". August 4, 2023.
  6. ^ "Pennant race at a glance". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). September 16, 1970. p. 16.
  7. ^ "1970 Chicago Cubs Schedule".
  8. ^ Historical Newspapers from 1700s–2000s – Newspapers.com
  9. ^ Historical Newspapers from 1700s–2000s – Newspapers.com
  10. ^ Pro-Football-Reference.com
  11. ^ Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2014-Sep-14.
  12. ^ Pro-Football-Reference.com
  13. ^ Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2014-Sep-14.
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