1978 St. Louis Cardinals (NFL) season

Last updated

1978 St. Louis Cardinals season
Owner Bill Bidwill
Head coach Bud Wilkinson
Home field Busch Memorial Stadium
Results
Record6–10
Division place4th NFC East
Playoff finishDid not qualify
Pro Bowlers C Tom Banks
G Bob Young
T Dan Dierdorf

The 1978 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 59th year with the National Football League and the 19th season in St. Louis. The controversial recruitment of 62-year-old former Oklahoma Sooners coach Bud Wilkinson was a failure, as the team, already affected by becoming the first opponent team to lose visiting the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers (in December 1977), failed to maintain the standard of the previous four seasons. St. Louis lost its first eight games to be out of the running for the playoffs by midseason, and even a sequence of six wins in eight games failed to move them beyond a tie for last in its division.

Contents

The last of the Cardinals’ initial eight consecutive losses was the final time they played the New York Jets until 1996, [1] by which time the franchise was based in Phoenix and provided a notorious Jets’ team with the win needed to avoid the first 0–16 record in NFL history. The reason for this is that before the admission of the Texans in 2002, NFL scheduling formulas for games outside a team's division were much more influenced by table position during the previous season. [2]

Wilkinson was hired in early March, [3] [4] following the release of Don Coryell in February. [5] [6] Wilkinson had last coached at Oklahoma in 1963, and had since been an analyst on college football telecasts. [3] [4]

Offseason

NFL Draft

1978 St. Louis Cardinals draft
RoundPickPlayerPositionCollegeNotes
115 Steve Little   Kicker Arkansas
119 Ken Greene   Safety Washington State
242 John Barefield   Linebacker Texas A&I
369 Doug Greene   Defensive back Texas A&I
496 George Collins   Guard Georgia
497 Jimmy Childs   Wide receiver Cal Poly
5124 Earl Carr   Running back Florida
6151Jack Williams  Defensive end Bowling Green
7181 Dave Stief   Wide receiver Portland State
9235Joe Mosley  Tight end Central State (OH)
10265Randy Gill  Linebacker San Jose State
12319Anthony Clay  Linebacker South Carolina State
      Made roster    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Staff

1978 St. Louis Cardinals staff

Front office

Head coaches

Offensive coaches

Defensive coaches

Special teams coaches

  • Special Teams – Jerry Thompson



Roster

1978 St. Louis Cardinals 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

Reserved


Rookies in italics

Preseason

WeekDateOpponentResultRecordVenueAttendance
1August 5at Miami Dolphins L 7–280–1 Miami Orange Bowl 46,557
2August 12at Chicago Bears W 26–141–1 Soldier Field 52,732
3August 19at Green Bay Packers L 17–231–2 Lambeau Field 50,423
4August 26at Kansas City Chiefs W 12–72–2 Arrowhead Stadium 40,884

[7]

Regular season

Schedule

WeekDateOpponentResultRecordVenueAttendanceRecap
1September 3at Chicago Bears L 10–170–1 Soldier Field 52,791 Recap
2September 10 New England Patriots L 6–160–2 Busch Memorial Stadium 48,233 Recap
3September 17 Washington Redskins L 10–280–3Busch Memorial Stadium49,282 Recap
4September 24at Dallas Cowboys L 12–210–4 Texas Stadium 62,760 Recap
5October 1at Miami Dolphins L 10–240–5 Miami Orange Bowl 43,882 Recap
6October 8 Baltimore Colts L 17–300–6Busch Memorial Stadium47,479 Recap
7October 15Dallas CowboysL 21–24 (OT)0–7Busch Memorial Stadium48,991 Recap
8October 22at New York Jets L 10–230–8 Shea Stadium 49,244 Recap
9October 29at Philadelphia Eagles W 16–101–8 Veterans Stadium 62,989 Recap
10November 5 New York Giants W 20–102–8Busch Memorial Stadium48,820 Recap
11November 12at San Francisco 49ers W 16–103–8 Candlestick Park 33,155 Recap
12November 19at Washington RedskinsW 27–174–8 RFK Stadium 52,460 Recap
13November 26Philadelphia EaglesL 10–144–9Busch Memorial Stadium39,693 Recap
14December 3 Detroit Lions W 21–145–9Busch Memorial Stadium39,200 Recap
15December 10at New York GiantsL 0–175–10 Giants Stadium 52,226 Recap
16December 17 Atlanta Falcons W 42–216–10Busch Memorial Stadium40,022 Recap
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Standings

NFC East
WLTPCTDIVCONFPFPASTK
Dallas Cowboys (2)1240.7507–19–3384208W6
Philadelphia Eagles (5)970.5634–46–6270250W1
Washington Redskins 880.5004–46–6273283L5
St. Louis Cardinals 6100.3753–56–6248296W1
New York Giants 6100.3752–65–9264298L1

Awards and records

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References

  1. ↑ Arizona Cardinals v New York Jets
  2. ↑ History of the NFL's Structure and Formats
  3. 1 2 "Wilkinson named Cardinals' coach". Pittsburgh Press. UPI. March 2, 1978. p. C1.
  4. 1 2 "Big Red names Wilkinson". Southeast Missourian. (Cape Girardeau). March 2, 1978. p. 11.
  5. ↑ "Coryell won't coach Cards". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. February 11, 1978. p. 4C.
  6. ↑ "Wanted: 'A talented coach'". Southeast Missourian. (Cape Girardeau). Associated Press. February 12, 1978. p. 16.
  7. ↑ "1978 St. Louis Cardinals (NFL)". Pro Football Archives. Retrieved October 28, 2023.
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