1978 St. Louis Cardinals (NFL) season
| 1978 St. Louis Cardinals season | |
|---|---|
| Head coach | Bud Wilkinson |
| Owner | Bill Bidwill |
| Home field | Busch Memorial Stadium |
| Results | |
| Record | 6–10 |
| Division place | 4th NFC East |
| Playoff finish | did not qualify |
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 Buccaneers, failed to maintain the standard of the previous four seasons. The team 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 the team beyond equal 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]
Offseason
NFL Draft
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | School/Club Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Personnel
Staff
| 1978 St. Louis Cardinals staff | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Front office
Head coaches
Offensive coaches
|
Defensive coaches
Special teams coaches
| |||||
Regular season
Schedule
| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | September 3, 1978 | at Chicago Bears | L 10–17 | |
| 2 | September 10, 1978 | New England Patriots | L 6–16 | |
| 3 | September 17, 1978 | Washington Redskins | L 10–28 | |
| 4 | September 24, 1978 | at Dallas Cowboys | L 12–21 | |
| 5 | October 1, 1978 | at Miami Dolphins | L 10–24 | |
| 6 | October 8, 1978 | Baltimore Colts | L 17–30 | |
| 7 | October 15, 1978 | Dallas Cowboys | L 21–24 | |
| 8 | October 22, 1978 | at New York Jets | L 10–23 | |
| 9 | October 29, 1978 | at Philadelphia Eagles | W 16–10 | |
| 10 | November 5, 1978 | New York Giants | W 20–10 | |
| 11 | November 12, 1978 | at San Francisco 49ers | W 16–10 | |
| 12 | November 19, 1978 | at Washington Redskins | W 27–17 | |
| 13 | November 26, 1978 | Philadelphia Eagles | L 10–14 | |
| 14 | December 3, 1978 | Detroit Lions | W 21–14 | |
| 15 | December 10, 1978 | at New York Giants | L 0–17 | |
| 16 | December 17, 1978 | Atlanta Falcons | W 42–21 | |
Standings
| NFC East | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |