1979 Chicago Bears Statistics
Team Record: 10-6
Finishing 1st in the NFL's Central Division of the National Football Conference
Postseason: 0-1 Lost Wild Card
Coach: Neill Armstrong (10-6)
Location: Chicago, Illinois
1979 Chicago Bears Results
The Chicago Bears of the National Football League ended the 1979 season with a record of 10 wins and 6 losses, finishing first in the NFL's Central Division of the National Football Conference. The team compiled a postseason mark of 0-1.
Chicago racked up 306 points, while the stingy defense gave up 249. Walter Payton spearheaded the running game, rushing for a 1,610 yards for the Bears.
Mike Phipps passed for 1,535 yards. Dave Williams hauled in 42 balls, while Brian Baschnagel added 452 receiving yards. Rickey Watts and James Scott were targeted regularly as well.
The opportunistic defense created 43 turnovers. Terry Schmidt and Gary Fencik each seized 6 opponent throws.
Neill Armstrong coached the team. The 1979 Chicago Bears lost in the Wild Card.
Click on column headings to sort.
Passing:
| Player | Att | Comp | Comp % | Yds | Yds/Att | TDs | TD % | Ints | Int % | Long | Sacked | Yds Lost | Rating | Mike Phipps | 255 | 134 | 52.5 | 1535 | 6.0 | 9 | 3.5 | 8 | 3.1 | 68 | 15 | 145 | 69.6 | Vince Evans | 63 | 32 | 50.8 | 508 | 8.1 | 4 | 6.3 | 5 | 7.9 | 65 | 8 | 75 | 66.1 | Bob Avellini | 51 | 27 | 52.9 | 310 | 6.1 | 2 | 3.9 | 3 | 5.9 | 54 | 8 | 58 | 60.1 | Walter Payton | 1 | 1 | 100.0 | 54 | 54.0 | 1 | 100.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 54 | 0 | 0 | 158.3 | Bob Parsons | 2 | 1 | 50.0 | 22 | 11.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 89.6 | Brian Baschnagel | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 39.6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totals | 373 | 195 | 52.3 | 2429 | 6.5 | 16 | 4.3 | 16 | 4.3 | 68 | 31 | 278 |
Rushing:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs | Walter Payton | 369 | 1610 | 4.4 | 43 | 14 | Dave Williams | 127 | 401 | 3.2 | 16 | 1 | Willie McClendon | 37 | 160 | 4.3 | 33 | 1 | Robin Earl | 35 | 132 | 3.8 | 12 | 0 | Vince Evans | 12 | 72 | 6.0 | 17 | 1 | Mike Phipps | 27 | 51 | 1.9 | 12 | 0 | Jack Deloplaine | 7 | 18 | 2.6 | 6 | 0 | Doug Buffone | 1 | 14 | 14.0 | 14 | 0 | Lonnie Perrin | 5 | 14 | 2.8 | 5 | 0 | John Skibinski | 3 | 10 | 3.3 | 4 | 0 | Bob Avellini | 3 | 10 | 3.3 | 5 | 0 | Rickey Watts | 1 | -6 | -6.0 | -6 | 0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totals | 627 | 2486 | 4.0 | 43 | 17 |
Receiving:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs | Dave Williams | 42 | 354 | 8.4 | 54 | 5 | Walter Payton | 31 | 313 | 10.1 | 65 | 2 | Brian Baschnagel | 30 | 452 | 15.1 | 54 | 2 | Rickey Watts | 24 | 421 | 17.5 | 68 | 3 | James Scott | 21 | 382 | 18.2 | 64 | 3 | Greg Latta | 15 | 131 | 8.7 | 25 | 0 | Robin Earl | 8 | 56 | 7.0 | 19 | 0 | Mike Cobb | 6 | 91 | 15.2 | 38 | 0 | Willie McClendon | 6 | 27 | 4.5 | 13 | 0 | Golden Richards | 5 | 107 | 21.4 | 52 | 1 | Steve Schubert | 2 | 29 | 14.5 | 15 | 0 | Jack Deloplaine | 2 | 13 | 6.5 | 15 | 0 | Lonnie Perrin | 1 | 27 | 27.0 | 27 | 0 | Doug Buffone | 1 | 22 | 22.0 | 22 | 0 | John Skibinski | 1 | 4 | 4.0 | 4 | 0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totals | 195 | 2429 | 12.5 | 68 | 16 |
Kicking:
Punting:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | Bob Parsons | 92 | 3486 | 37.9 | 54 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totals | 92 | 3486 | 37.9 | 54 |
Punt Returns:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs | Steve Schubert | 25 | 238 | 9.5 | 77 | 1 | Len Walterscheid | 14 | 96 | 6.9 | 14 | 0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totals | 39 | 334 | 8.6 | 77 | 1 |
Kick Returns:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs | Len Walterscheid | 19 | 427 | 22.5 | 44 | 0 | Rickey Watts | 14 | 289 | 20.6 | 83 | 1 | Brian Baschnagel | 12 | 260 | 21.7 | 32 | 0 | Steve Schubert | 2 | 45 | 22.5 | 27 | 0 | Lonnie Perrin | 1 | 13 | 13.0 | 13 | 0 | Willie McClendon | 1 | 12 | 12.0 | 12 | 0 | Greg Latta | 1 | 8 | 8.0 | 8 | 0 | Bruce Herron | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totals | 51 | 1054 | 20.7 | 83 | 1 |
Interceptions:
| Player | No. | Yds | Avg. | Long | TDs | Terry Schmidt | 6 | 44 | 7.3 | 20 | 1 | Gary Fencik | 6 | 31 | 5.2 | 17 | 0 | Tom Hicks | 3 | 85 | 28.3 | 66 | 1 | Allan Ellis | 3 | 67 | 22.3 | 24 | 0 | Doug Plank | 3 | 33 | 11.0 | 22 | 0 | Virgil Livers | 2 | 41 | 20.5 | 30 | 0 | Doug Buffone | 2 | 11 | 5.5 | 11 | 0 | Wentford Gaines | 1 | 38 | 38.0 | 38 | 0 | Gary Campbell | 1 | 32 | 32.0 | 32 | 0 | Len Walterscheid | 1 | 15 | 15.0 | 15 | 0 | Jerry Muckensturm | 1 | 5 | 5.0 | 5 | 0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totals | 29 | 402 | 13.9 | 66 | 2 |
Defense and Fumbles:
| Player | Tackle | Brup | Fum | FRec | FYds | FTD | FF | Gary Fencik | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Dan Hampton | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Walter Payton | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Jerry Muckensturm | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Tom Hicks | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Jim Osborne | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Virgil Livers | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Mike Hartenstine | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Doug Plank | 0 | 0 | 1 | 17 | 0 | 0 | Revie Sorey | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Brian Baschnagel | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Mike Phipps | 2 | 1 | -3 | 0 | 0 | Wentford Gaines | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Alan Page | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Gary Campbell | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Len Walterscheid | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Robin Earl | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Rickey Watts | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Bruce Herron | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Vince Evans | 1 | 0 | -2 | 0 | 0 | Dave Williams | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Totals | 0 | 0 | 21 | 21 | 12 | 0 | 0 |
Total Scoring:
| Touchdowns | Other | Total | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Rush | Rec | Punt | Kick | MFG | Int | Fum | Other | FG | X/C | Single | 2Pt | Saf | Points | Walter Payton | 14 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 96 | Bob Thomas | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 34 | 0 | 82 | Dave Williams | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 36 | Rickey Watts | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | James Scott | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | Brian Baschnagel | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | Steve Schubert | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | Willie McClendon | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | Tom Hicks | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | Terry Schmidt | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | Vince Evans | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | Golden Richards | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Totals | 17 | 16 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 34 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 304 |
