1978 St. Louis Cardinals (NFL) season

1978 St. Louis Cardinals season
Owner	Bill Bidwill
Head coach	Bud Wilkinson
Home field	Busch Memorial Stadium
Results
Record	6–10
Division place	4th NFC East
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
Pro Bowlers	C Tom Banks G Bob Young T Dan Dierdorf
←  1977 Cardinals seasons 1979  →

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.

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

Main article: 1978 NFL Draft

1978 St. Louis Cardinals draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
1	15	Steve Little	Kicker	Arkansas
1	19	Ken Greene	Safety	Washington State
2	42	John Barefield	Linebacker	Texas A&I
3	69	Doug Greene	Defensive back	Texas A&I
4	96	George Collins	Guard	Georgia
4	97	Jimmy Childs	Wide receiver	Cal Poly
5	124	Earl Carr	Running back	Florida
6	151	Jack Williams	Defensive end	Bowling Green
7	181	Dave Stief	Wide receiver	Portland State
9	235	Joe Mosley	Tight end	Central State (OH)
10	265	Randy Gill	Linebacker	San Jose State
12	319	Anthony Clay	Linebacker	South Carolina State
Made roster    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Staff

1978 St. Louis Cardinals staff

	Front office Owner – Bill Bidwill Director of Operations – Joe Sullivan Assistant Director of Operations – Larry Wilson Head coaches Head Coach – Bud Wilkinson Offensive coaches Quarterbacks/Receivers – Harry Gilmer Offensive Backfield – Pete Elliott Offensive Line – Jim Hanifan Special Assistant – Buddy Parker			Defensive coaches Defensive Coordinator – Tom Bettis Defensive Line – Rudy Feldman Defensive Secondary – Fred Glick Special teams coaches Special Teams – Jerry Thompson

Roster

1978 St. Louis Cardinals roster

	Quarterbacks 17 Jim Hart 18 Mark Manges 15 Steve Pisarkiewicz Running backs 20 Gordon Bell 39 Willard Harrell 34 Steve Jones 32 Jerry Latin 24 Wayne Morris FB 35 Jim Otis FB Wide receivers 89 Warren Anderson 86 Jimmy Childs 41 Tom Southard 84 Dave Stief 83 Pat Tilley Tight ends 87 Al Chandler 80 Eason Ramson		Offensive linemen 54 Tom Banks C 66 George Collins T 72 Dan Dierdorf T 51 Tom Brahaney C 65 Brad Oates T 68 Terry Stieve G 62 Keith Wortman T 64 Bob Young G Defensive linemen 79 Bob Bell DT 73 Mike Dawson DT 70 Keith Simons DT 78 Ron Yankowski DE 63 John Zook DE		Linebackers 50 Kurt Allerman 57 Mark Arneson 58 John Barefield 56 Tim Kearney 53 Steve Neils 59 Kurtis Townsend 52 Greg Westbrooks 55 Eric Williams Defensive backs 27 Carl Allen CB 40 Doug Greene 37 Ken Greene SS 38 Lee Nelson FS 45 Perry Smith 22 Roger Wehrli CB 44 Rolly Woolsey Special teams 25 Jim Bakken K 12 Steve Little K 16 Mike Wood P		Reserve lists 54 Anthony Clay LB (IR Tooltip Injured reserve) 74 Jack Williams DE (IR Tooltip Injured reserve) Practice squad Rookies in italics

Preseason

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
1	August 5	at Miami Dolphins	L 7–28	0–1	Miami Orange Bowl	46,557
2	August 12	at Chicago Bears	W 26–14	1–1	Soldier Field	52,732
3	August 19	at Green Bay Packers	L 17–23	1–2	Lambeau Field	50,423
4	August 26	at Kansas City Chiefs	W 12–7	2–2	Arrowhead Stadium	40,884

^[7]

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance	Recap
1	September 3	at Chicago Bears	L 10–17	0–1	Soldier Field	52,791	Recap
2	September 10	New England Patriots	L 6–16	0–2	Busch Memorial Stadium	48,233	Recap
3	September 17	Washington Redskins	L 10–28	0–3	Busch Memorial Stadium	49,282	Recap
4	September 24	at Dallas Cowboys	L 12–21	0–4	Texas Stadium	62,760	Recap
5	October 1	at Miami Dolphins	L 10–24	0–5	Miami Orange Bowl	43,882	Recap
6	October 8	Baltimore Colts	L 17–30	0–6	Busch Memorial Stadium	47,479	Recap
7	October 15	Dallas Cowboys	L 21–24 (OT)	0–7	Busch Memorial Stadium	48,991	Recap
8	October 22	at New York Jets	L 10–23	0–8	Shea Stadium	49,244	Recap
9	October 29	at Philadelphia Eagles	W 16–10	1–8	Veterans Stadium	62,989	Recap
10	November 5	New York Giants	W 20–10	2–8	Busch Memorial Stadium	48,820	Recap
11	November 12	at San Francisco 49ers	W 16–10	3–8	Candlestick Park	33,155	Recap
12	November 19	at Washington Redskins	W 27–17	4–8	RFK Stadium	52,460	Recap
13	November 26	Philadelphia Eagles	L 10–14	4–9	Busch Memorial Stadium	39,693	Recap
14	December 3	Detroit Lions	W 21–14	5–9	Busch Memorial Stadium	39,200	Recap
15	December 10	at New York Giants	L 0–17	5–10	Giants Stadium	52,226	Recap
16	December 17	Atlanta Falcons	W 42–21	6–10	Busch Memorial Stadium	40,022	Recap
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Standings

NFC East
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Dallas Cowboys (2)	12	4	0	.750	7–1	9–3	384	208	W6
Philadelphia Eagles (5)	9	7	0	.563	4–4	6–6	270	250	W1
Washington Redskins	8	8	0	.500	4–4	6–6	273	283	L5
St. Louis Cardinals	6	10	0	.375	3–5	6–6	248	296	W1
New York Giants	6	10	0	.375	2–6	5–9	264	298	L1

References

1. Arizona Cardinals v New York Jets
2. History of the NFL's Structure and Formats
3. "Wilkinson named Cardinals' coach". Pittsburgh Press. UPI. March 2, 1978. p. C1.
4. "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.

External links

• Cardinals on Pro Football Reference
• Cardinals on jt-sw.com