1968 Chicago Bears season

1968 Chicago Bears season
OwnerGeorge Halas
General managerGeorge Halas
Head coachJim Dooley
Home fieldWrigley Field
Results
Record7–7
Division place2nd Central
Playoff finishDid not qualify

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.

  1. ^ "Pro football standings". Milwaukee Journal. December 16, 1968. p. 13, part 2.
  2. ^ "Bears beat 49ers, 27-19, but lose Sayers for year". Milwaukee Sentinel. UPI. November 11, 1968. p. 1, part 2.[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ "Bears down 49ers, 27-19, but lose Sayers for season". Milwaukee Journal. press dispatches. November 11, 1968. p. 12, part 2.
  4. ^ a b Bledsoe, Terry (December 15, 1968). "Packers' bad year to end at last". Milwaukee Journal. p. 1, sports.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ "Horn answers Pack's call, blows Bears out of race". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. December 16, 1968. p. 3B.