NFL team season
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]
1970 Chicago Bears final roster Quarterbacks Running backs
Wide receivers
Tight ends
Offensive linemen Defensive linemen
Linebackers Defensive backs
Special teams
Reserve lists
Rookies in italics
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]
Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance 1 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 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 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.
Game information First quarter
Second quarter
NYG – Pete Gogolak 20-yard field goal. Giants 13–7. CHI – Mac Percival 28-yard field goal. Giants 13–10. Third quarter
Fourth quarter
NYG – Pete Gogolak 45-yard field goal. Bears 17–16. CHI – Dick Gordon 19-yard pass from Jack Concannon (Mac Percival kick). Bears 24–16. Top passers Top rushers Top receivers CHI – Bob Wallace – 6 receptions, 82 yards NYG – Ron Johnson – 8 receptions, 85 yards, TD
1 2 3 4 Total Eagles 6 3 0 7 16 • Bears 7 10 0 3 20
[ 10]
1 2 3 4 Total • Bears 10 3 7 3 23 Falcons 0 7 7 0 14
Date: November 1Location: Atlanta Stadium , Atlanta Game start: 1:00 p.m. Game weather: 62 °F (17 °C); wind 7 mph (11 km/h) Scoring summary Q1 CHI Shy 1 yard run (Percival kick)CHI 7–0 Q1 CHI Percival 30 yard field goal CHI 10–0 Q2 ATL Gipson 20 yard pass from Berry (Vinyard kick)CHI 10–7 Q2 CHI Percival 47 yard field goal CHI 13–7 Q3 ATL Mitchell 17 yard pass from Berry (Vinyard kick)ATL 14–13 Q3 CHI Turner 94 yard kickoff return (Percival kick)CHI 20–14 Q4 CHI Percival 31 yard field goal CHI 23–14
[ 11]
1 2 3 4 Total Bills 6 0 0 7 13 • Bears 0 14 7 10 31
Date: November 22Location: 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 1 BUF Butch Byrd 23-yard interception return (kick failed)Bills 6–0 2 CHI Dick Gordon 36-yard pass from Bobby Douglass (Mac Percival kick)Bears 7–6 2 CHI Jim Seymour 36-yard pass from Bobby Douglass (Mac Percival kick)Bears 14–6 3 CHI Jim Seymour 53-yard pass from Bobby Douglass (Mac Percival kick) Bears 21–6 4 BUF Marlin Briscoe 17-yard pass from Dennis Shaw (Grant Guthrie kick)Bears 21–13 4 CHI Mac Percival 37-yard field goal Bears 24–13 4 CHI Dick Gordon 28-yard pass from Bobby Douglass (Mac Percival kick) Bears 31–13
[ 12]
Green Bay Packers at Chicago Bears 1 2 3 4 Total Packers 3 0 0 14 17 • Bears 14 7 7 7 35
Date: Sunday, December 13Location: 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 1 Bears Dick Gordon 15-yard pass from Jack Concannon (Mac Percival kick)Bears 7–0 1 Bears George Farmer 42-yard pass from Jack Concannon (Mac Percival kick)Bears 14–0 1 Packers Dale Livingston 32-yard field goalBears 14–3 2 Bears Jack Concannon 15-yard run (Mac Percival kick) Bears 21–3 3 Bears Dick Gordon 25-yard pass from Jack Concannon (Mac Percival kick) Bears 28–3 4 Packers Donny Anderson 7-yard run (Dale Livingston kick)Bears 28–10 4 Bears Ray Ogden 6-yard pass from Jack Concannon (Mac Percival kick)Bears 35–10 4 Packers John Hilton 29-yard pass from Rick Norton (Dale Livingston kick)Bears 35–17
1 2 3 4 Total • Bears 0 7 3 14 24 Saints 0 3 0 0 3
Scoring summary Q2 NO Dempsey 47 yard field goalNO 3–0 Q2 CHI Seymour 22 yard pass from Concannon (Percival kick)CHI 7–3 Q3 CHI Percival 50 yard field goal CHI 10–3 Q4 CHI Seymour 2 yard pass from Concannon (Percival kick) CHI 17–3 Q4 CHI Gordon 14 yard pass from Concannon (Percival kick)CHI 24–3
[ 13]
Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.
^ "These deals didn't work" . Chicago Tribune . August 25, 2004. ^ "Cancer fatal to Piccolo of Bears at 26" . Milwaukee Journal . press dispatches. June 16, 1970. p. 13, part 2.[permanent dead link ] ^ "Brian Piccolo is dead at 26" . Spokesman-Review . (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. June 17, 1970. p. 19. ^ "Sayers, Halas praise Piccolo's courage" . Milwaukee Sentinel . Associated Press. June 17, 1970. p. 1-part 2. ^ "Historical Newspapers from 1700s–2000s" . August 4, 2023. ^ "Pennant race at a glance" . Spokesman-Review . (Spokane, Washington). September 16, 1970. p. 16. ^ "1970 Chicago Cubs Schedule" . ^ Historical Newspapers from 1700s–2000s – Newspapers.com ^ Historical Newspapers from 1700s–2000s – Newspapers.com ^ Pro-Football-Reference.com ^ Pro-Football-Reference.com . Retrieved 2014-Sep-14. ^ Pro-Football-Reference.com ^ Pro-Football-Reference.com . Retrieved 2014-Sep-14.
Franchise Records Stadiums Culture Lore Rivalries Minor league affiliates Retired numbers Key personnel Division championships (21) Conference championships (4) League championships (9) Media Broadcasters Radio: Personnel: Television: WFLD (pre-season and most regular season games through Fox , official pre-game and post-game alternate) Marquee Sports Network (official post-game and in-season programming) Personnel: Lou Canellis (gameday television host, pre-season sideline reporter) Adam Amin (pre-season play-by-play) Jim Miller (pre-season analyst) Current league affiliations
Formerly the Decatur Staleys (1920) and the Chicago Staleys (1921)