1970 Chicago Bears 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]

Offseason

• June 16, 1970 – After a seven-month battle with cancer, running back Brian Piccolo died at age 26.^[2][3][4]

NFL Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	School/Club Team
3	58	George Farmer	Wide Receiver	UCLA

Roster

1970 Chicago Bears final roster

	Quarterbacks 11 Jack Concannon 12 Bob Cutburth 16 Kent Nix Running backs 29 Ronnie Bull FB 33 Mike Hull 32 Ralph Kurek 22 Ross Montgomery 24 Don Shy Wide receivers 25 Linzy Cole 43 George Farmer 45 Dick Gordon 84 Jim Seymour 21 Cecil Turner Tight ends 37 Rich Coady 86 Jim Hester 38 Ray Ogden		Offensive linemen 72 Jim Cadile G 70 Jeff Curchin T 61 Glen Holloway G 50 Bob Hyland C 65 Randy Jackson T 74 Wayne Mass T 68 Howard Mudd G 69 Ted Wheeler G Defensive linemen 78 Harry Gunner DE 75 Dave Hale DT 85 Willie Holman DE 87 Ed O'Bradovich DE 67 George Seals DT 76 Bill Staley DT		Linebackers 31 Ross Brupbacher 55 Doug Buffone 51 Dick Butkus 60 Lee Roy Caffey 30 Jimmy Gunn 63 John Neidert Defensive backs 29 Phil Clark SS 23 Dick Daniels S 47 Butch Davis 44 Garry Lyle FS 26 Bennie McRae CB 48 Ron Smith FS 20 Joe Taylor CB Special teams 88 Bobby Joe Green P 83 Mac Percival K		Reserve lists 46 Craig Baynham RB (IRTooltip Injured reserve) 10 Bobby Douglass QB (IRTooltip Injured reserve) 40 Gale Sayers RB (IRTooltip Injured reserve) 89 Bob Wallace TE (IRTooltip Injured reserve) Rookies in italics

Regular season

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

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

Week 1 at Giants

Week 2

1 2 3 4 Total Eagles 6 3 0 7 16 • Bears 7 10 0 3 20 Date: September 27 Location: Dyche Stadium • Evanston, Illinois Game start: 1:00 p.m. CST Game weather: 52 °F (11 °C) • Wind 9 mph (14 km/h) Referee: Fred Swearingen TV announcers (CBS): Jack Whitaker and Tom Brookshier

Scoring summary 1 CHI Cecil Turner 96-yard kickoff return (Mac Percival kick) Bears 7–0 1 PHI Gary Ballman 7-yard pass from Norm Snead (kick failed) Bears 7–6 2 CHI Mac Percival 17-yard field goal Bears 10–6 2 PHI Mark Moseley 42-yard field goal Bears 10–9 2 CHI Dick Gordon 12-yard pass from Ronnie Bull (Mac Percival kick) Bears 17–9 4 PHI Lee Bouggess 10-yard run (Mark Moseley kick) Bears 17–16 4 CHI Mac Percival 36-yard field goal Bears 20–16

^[10]

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

1 2 3 4 Total • Bears 10 3 7 3 23 Falcons 0 7 7 0 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 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]

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

1 2 3 4 Total Bills 6 0 0 7 13 • Bears 0 14 7 10 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 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]

Week 11

Week 12

Week 13

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 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 Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com

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 goal Bears 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

Week 14

1 2 3 4 Total • Bears 0 7 3 14 24 Saints 0 3 0 0 3 Date: December 20 Location: Tulane Stadium, New Orleans Game start: 1:00 p.m. CST Game weather: 65 °F (18 °C); wind 7 mph (11 km/h) Referee: Jack Reader TV announcers (CBS): Jack Drees and Eddie LeBaron

Scoring summary Q2 NO Dempsey 47 yard field goal NO 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

• Jack Concannon 26/50, 280 Yds
• Dick Gordon 9 Rec, 119 Yds

^[13]

Standings

NFC Central
view talk edit	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