From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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]
Offseason
June 16, 1970 – After a seven-month battle with cancer, running back
Brian Piccolo died at age 26.
[2]
[3]
[4]
NFL Draft
Roster
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
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
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.
Season summary
Week 1 at Giants
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
Week 2
1
2 3 4 Total
Eagles
6
3 0 7
16
• Bears
7
10 0 3
20
[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 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]
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 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]
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 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 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
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
[13]
Standings
Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.
References
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)