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1968 Chicago Bears season
1968 Chicago Bears season
Owner	George Halas
General manager	George Halas
Head coach	Jim Dooley
Home field	Wrigley Field
Results
Record	7–7
Division place	2nd Central
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
	← 1967; Bears seasons; 1969 →;

The 1968 season was the Chicago Bears' 49th in the National Football League. The team failed to improve on their 7–6–1 record from 1967 and finished with a 7–7 record under first-year head coach Jim Dooley and earning them a second-place finish in the Central Division within the NFL's Western Conference, a game behind the Minnesota Vikings.^[1]

Star running back Gale Sayers tore the ligaments in his right knee against San Francisco on November 10 and was lost for the season.^[2]^[3]

The Bears had the tiebreaker advantage over Minnesota, after defeating them twice.^[4] They needed a win over the Green Bay Packers in the season finale to clinch the division title,^[4] but lost by a point at home.^[5]^[6]

The following season, Chicago posted its worst record in franchise history at 1–13. The Bears' next postseason appearance was in 1977, as a wild card team, and the next division title came in 1984.

Offseason

George Halas, age 73, retired as head coach of the Bears for the fourth and final time on May 27.^[7]^[8]^[9]^[10] Dooley, 38, was promoted and introduced as head coach the following day.^[11]^[12]

NFL/AFL Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	College
1968 Chicago Bears draft
1	16	Mike Hull	Fullback	USC
2	46	Bob Wallace	Tight end	Texas at El Paso
Made roster * Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Roster

**1968 Chicago Bears roster**
Quarterbacks (QB) 10 Rudy Bukich 15 Virgil Carter 11 Jack Concannon 12 Larry Rakestraw Running backs (RB) 29 Ronnie Bull FB 33 Mike Hull 32 Ralph Kurek 41 Brian Piccolo FB 40 Gale Sayers Wide receivers (WR) 45 Dick Gordon 43 Bob Jones 21 Cecil Turner Tight ends (TE) 84 Austin Denney 82 Emilio Vallez 89 Bob Wallace		Offensive linemen (OL) -- Bob Breitenstein T 72 Jim Cadile G 65 Randy Jackson T 60 Doug Kriewald G 74 Wayne Mass T 70 Bob Pickens T 50 Mike Pyle C 62 Mike Reilly G 67 George Seals G 63 Bob Wetoska T Defensive linemen (DL) 73 Frank Cornish Jr. DT 79 Dick Evey DT 85 Willie Holman DE 76 John Johnson DT 87 Ed O'Bradovich DE 86 Loyd Phillips DE		Linebackers (LB) 55 Doug Buffone 51 Dick Butkus 59 Rudy Kuechenberg 57 Dan Pride 53 Jim Purnell Defensive backs (DB) 23 Clarence Childs 46 Curt Gentry 49 Major Hazelton 26 Bennie McRae CB 17 Richie Petitbon S 20 Joe Taylor CB 24 Rosey Taylor S Special teams 88 Bobby Joe Green P 80 Jon Kilgore P 83 Mac Percival K	Rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
1	September 15	Washington Redskins	L 28–38	0–1	Wrigley Field	41,321
2	September 22	at Detroit Lions	L 0–42	0–2	Tiger Stadium	50,688
3	September 29	at Minnesota Vikings	W 27–17	1–2	Metropolitan Stadium	47,644
4	October 6	at Baltimore Colts	L 7–28	1–3	Memorial Stadium	60,238
5	October 13	Detroit Lions	L 10–28	1–4	Wrigley Field	46,996
6	October 20	at Philadelphia Eagles	W 29–16	2–4	Franklin Field	60,858
7	October 27	Minnesota Vikings	W 26–24	3–4	Wrigley Field	46,562
8	November 3	at Green Bay Packers	W 13–10	4–4	Lambeau Field	50,861
9	November 10	San Francisco 49ers	W 27–19	5–4	Wrigley Field	46,978
10	November 17	Atlanta Falcons	L 13–16	5–5	Wrigley Field	44,214
11	November 24	Dallas Cowboys	L 3–34	5–6	Wrigley Field	46,667
12	December 1	at New Orleans Saints	W 23–17	6–6	Tulane Stadium	78,285
13	December 8	at Los Angeles Rams	W 17–16	7–6	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum	66,368
14	December 15	Green Bay Packers	L 27–28	7–7	Wrigley Field	46,435
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

	1	2	3	4	Total
• Bears	14	6	0	7	27
Vikings	0	3	0	14	17

Date: September 29
Location: Metropolitan Stadium, Bloomington, MN
Game weather: 54 °F (12 °C); wind 7 mph

Gale Sayers 16 Rush, 108 Yds

^[13]

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

	1	2	3	4	Total
• Bears	7	6	3	13	29
Eagles	3	10	3	0	16

Date: October 20
Location: Franklin Field, Philadelphia, PA
Game weather: 62 °F (17 °C); wind 12 mph

^[14]

Week 7

	1	2	3	4	Total
Vikings	7	7	0	10	24
• Bears	7	6	7	6	26

Date: October 27
Location: Wrigley Field, Chicago, IL
Game weather: 51 °F (11 °C); wind 17 mph

Gale Sayers 18 Rush, 143 Yds

^[15]

Week 8

	1	2	3	4	Total
• Bears	0	3	7	3	13
Packers	0	0	7	3	10

Date: November 3
Location: Lambeau Field, Green Bay, WI
Game weather: 36 °F (2 °C); wind 9 mph
Referee: Pat Haggerty

Gale Sayers 24 Rush, 205 Yds^[16]

Mac Percival booted the game-winning field goal with 16 seconds remaining on a rare free kick following a fair catch.

Standings

NFL Central
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Minnesota Vikings	8	6	0	.571	4–2	6–4	282	242	W2
Chicago Bears	7	7	0	.500	3–3	5–5	250	333	L1
Green Bay Packers	6	7	1	.462	1–4–1	2–7–1	281	227	W1
Detroit Lions	4	8	2	.333	3–2–1	4–5–1	207	241	L1

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

References

^ "Pro football standings". Milwaukee Journal. December 16, 1968. p. 13, part 2.
^ "Bears beat 49ers, 27-19, but lose Sayers for year". Milwaukee Sentinel. UPI. November 11, 1968. p. 1, part 2.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
^ "Bears down 49ers, 27-19, but lose Sayers for season". Milwaukee Journal. press dispatches. November 11, 1968. p. 12, part 2.
^ ^a ^b Bledsoe, Terry (December 15, 1968). "Packers' bad year to end at last". Milwaukee Journal. p. 1, sports.
^ Bledsoe, Terry (December 16, 1968). "Horn and Packers knock Bears out of title, 28-27". Milwaukee Journal. p. 13, part 2. Archived from the original on March 12, 2016. Retrieved November 11, 2019.
^ "Horn answers Pack's call, blows Bears out of race". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. December 16, 1968. p. 3B.
^ Strickler, George (May 28, 1968). "Halas retires as Bears' coach". Chicago Tribune. p. 1, sec. 1.
^ "George Halas drops reins". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. May 28, 1968. p. 15.
^ McHugh, Roy (May 28, 1968). "Papa Bear recognizes Father Time". Pittsburgh Press. p. 33.
^ NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book, Workman Publishing Co, New York, NY, ISBN 0-7611-2480-2, p. 283
^ Hollow, Cooper (May 29, 1968). "Dooley, 38, named head coach of Bears". Chicago Tribune. p. 1, sec. 3.
^ "Dooley moves up as Bears' coach". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. May 29, 1968. p. 16.
^ Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2014-Oct-27.
^ Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2014-Oct-28.
^ Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2014-Oct-29.
^ Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2014-Oct-31.