1983 Chicago Bears season

1983 Chicago Bears season
Head coach Mike Ditka
(2nd season)
General manager Jim Finks
Owner The McCaskey Family
(Family control since 1921; Virginia McCaskey since 1983)
Home field Soldier Field
Results
Record 8–8
Division place 3rd NFC Central
Playoff finish did not qualify
Pro Bowlers
AP All-Pros

The 1983 Chicago Bears season was their 64th regular season completed in the National Football League. The club posted an 8–8 record under second year head coach Mike Ditka, but missed postseason play. Jim McMahon was the quarterback, who completed 175 of 295 pass attempts. The Bears 1983 NFL Draft class was ranked #3 in NFL Top 10's greatest draft classes.[3]

1983 NFL Draft

Main article: 1983 NFL Draft
1983 Chicago Bears draft
Round Pick Player Position College Notes
1 6 Jim Covert *  Offensive tackle Pittsburgh
1 18 Willie Gault  Wide receiver Tennessee
2 33 Mike Richardson  Cornerback Arizona State
3 64 Dave Duerson *  Safety Notre Dame
4 91 Tom Thayer  Center Notre Dame
4 107 Pat Dunsmore  Tight end Drake
8 203 Richard Dent †  Defensive end Tennessee State
8 219 Mark Bortz *  Guard Iowa
9 230 Rob Fada  Guard Pittsburgh
9 235 Mark Zavagnin  Linebacker Notre Dame
10 256 Anthony Hutchison  Running back Texas Tech
11 286 Gary Worthy  Running back Wilmington (OH)
12 313 Oliver Williams  Wide receiver Illinois
      Made roster    †   Pro Football Hall of Fame    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Preseason

The Bears were predicted to finish 7–9 and fourth in the division by Paul Zimmerman. Their prized new weapon would be Willie Gault, Dennis McKinnon (signed as an undrafted free agent by the Bears in 1983) and Jimbo Covert would help open bigger holes for Walter Payton but it was felt they were a few offensive lineman and a tight end away from being effective. The defense would be led by All-Pro Dan Hampton and new defensive backs Mike Richardson and Dave Duerson.[4] The Bears started 1983 by losing 7 of their first 10, but won 5 of their last 6 to finish 8–8. The Bears would go 71–18 in regular season games from November 13, 1983 through October 2, 1989.

Week Date Opponent Result Game site Record
1 August 6, 1983 Buffalo Bills W 27–17 Soldier Field 1–0
2 August 13, 1983 St. Louis Cardinals L 24–27 Busch Stadium 1–1
3 August 20, 1983 Los Angeles Raiders W 27–21 L.A. Memorial Coliseum 2–1
4 August 27, 1983 Kansas City Chiefs W 20–17 Soldier Field 3–1

Schedule

Week Date Opponent Result Attendance
1 September 4, 1983 Atlanta Falcons L 20–17
60,165
2 September 11, 1983 Tampa Bay Buccaneers W 17–10
58,186
3 September 18, 1983 at New Orleans Saints L 34–31
64,692
4 September 25, 1983 at Baltimore Colts L 22–19
34,350
5 October 2, 1983 Denver Broncos W 31–14
58,210
6 October 9, 1983 Minnesota Vikings L 23–14
59,632
7 October 16, 1983 at Detroit Lions L 31–17
66,709
8 October 23, 1983 at Philadelphia Eagles W 7–6
45,263
9 October 30, 1983 Detroit Lions L 38–17
58,764
10 November 6, 1983 at Los Angeles Rams L 21–14
53,010
11 November 13, 1983 Philadelphia Eagles W 17–14
47,524
12 November 20, 1983 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers W 27–0
36,816
13 November 27, 1983 San Francisco 49ers W 13–3
40,483
14 December 4, 1983 at Green Bay Packers L 31–28
51,147
15 December 11, 1983 at Minnesota Vikings W 19–13
57,880
16 December 18, 1983 Green Bay Packers W 23–21
35,807

Standings

NFC Central
W L T PCT DIV CONF PF PA STK
Detroit Lions(3) 9 7 0 .563 7–1 8–4 347 286 W1
Green Bay Packers 8 8 0 .500 4–4 6–6 429 439 L1
Chicago Bears 8 8 0 .500 4–4 7–7 311 301 W2
Minnesota Vikings 8 8 0 .500 4–4 4–8 316 348 W1
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2 14 0 .125 1–7 1–11 241 380 L3

Game summaries

Week 1: vs. Atlanta Falcons

1 2 34Total
Falcons 6 0 7720
Bears 0 10 7017

at Soldier Field, Chicago

Week 2

1 2 34Total
Buccaneers 0 3 7010
Bears 0 10 0717

at Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois

  • Date: September 11
  • Game time: 12:00 p.m.
  • Game weather: 68°F, wind 11 mph
  • Referee: Ben Dreith
  • Box Score

CHI: Mike Hartenstine 2.0 sacks, Terry Schmidt INT

Week 3: at New Orleans Saints

1 2 34OTTotal
Bears 7 3 714031
Saints 7 3 147334

at Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana

Week 4: at Baltimore Colts

1 2 34OTTotal
Bears 0 3 313019
Colts 0 13 06322

at Memorial Stadium, Baltimore, Maryland

Week 5: vs. Denver Broncos

1 2 34Total
Broncos 0 0 7714
Bears 14 10 0731

at Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois

Week 8: at Philadelphia Eagles

1 2 34Total
Bears 7 0 007
Eagles 0 0 336

at Veterans Stadium, Philadelphia

Week 9: vs. Detroit Lions

1 2 34Total
Lions 14 3 14738
Bears 0 3 01417

at Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois

Week 11: vs. Philadelphia Eagles

1 2 34Total
Eagles 7 0 7014
Bears 0 14 0317

at Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois

Week 12: at Tampa Bay Buccaneers

1 2 34Total
Bears 0 14 6727
Buccaneers 0 0 000

at Tampa Stadium, Tampa, Florida

Week 13: vs. San Francisco 49ers

1 2 34Total
49ers 3 0 003
Bears 3 7 3013

at Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois

Week 14: at Green Bay Packers

1 2 34Total
Bears 7 7 01428
Packers 14 7 01031

at Lambeau Field, Green Bay, Wisconsin

Week 15

1 234Total
• Bears 10 603 19
Vikings 6 070 13

[5]

Week 16

1 234Total
Packers 7 707 21
• Bears 7 079 23

Roster and staff

Staff

Coaching Staff of 1983 season

Front office

Coaches

  

Position coaches

Trainers

  • Brian McCaskey – Assistant trainer
  • Clyde Emrich – Weightlifting/Strength
  

Scouts

Roster

Complete Roster of 1983 season

Quarterbacks

Offensive backs

Receivers

Tight ends

  

Kickers

Offensive line

Defensive line

  

Linebackers

Cornerbacks

Defensive backs

Safeties

  

Reserve Lists

Rookies in italics

Depth chart

References

  1. ↑ "1983 NFL Pro Bowlers". Pro-Football-Reference.com.
  2. ↑ "1983 NFL All-Pros". Pro-Football-Reference.com.
  3. ↑ "NFLs top 10 draft classes in league history". National Football League. Retrieved 2012-07-09.
  4. ↑ Sports Illustrated. 1 Sept 1983
  5. ↑ Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2014-Mar-02.

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: 1983 Chicago Bears season
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/22/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.