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Chicago Bears
1970 Chicago Bears season
Owner	George Halas
Head coach	Jim Dooley
Home field	Wrigley Field; Dyche Stadium
Results
Record	6-8
Division place	4th NFC Central
Playoff finish	Did not qualify

The 1970 Chicago Bears season was their 51st regular season completed in the National Football League. The team finished with a 6-8 record, a significant improvement over the 1-13 record of the previous season, the worst in franchise history.

Offseason

June 16, 1970 - After a seven-month battle with cancer, running back Brian Piccolo died at age 26.^[1]^[2]^[3]

NFL Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	School/Club Team
3	58	George Farmer	Wide Receiver	UCLA

Roster

Regular season

As an experiment, the Bears hosted their first home game of the season at Northwestern University's Dyche Stadium in Evanston. The Bears' Wrigley Field landlord, the Chicago Cubs, were in a pennant race and might play in the National League Championship Series and World Series, and that Wrigley Field would be unavailable (at least for installation of temporary seating in right and center field) until well into October.^[4] (The Cubs were in contention in the National League East until the final week of the 1970 season, thus rendering the anticipation moot.)^[5]^[6]

In addition, the NFL was pressuring the Bears to move out of Wrigley Field, because it had no lights and its seating capacity was under 50,000 (even with additional seating in right field for football games), stipulations of the AFL-NFL merger agreement. The Bears planned to move to Evanston for the 1971 season, but Evanston residents petitioned city officials to block the move, and the Big Ten Conference ultimately barred the Bears from using Dyche Stadium;^[7] the Bears moved to Chicago's Soldier Field.^[8]

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Attendance
1	September 19	at New York Giants	W 24-16	1-0	62,936
2	September 27	Philadelphia Eagles	W 20-16	2-0	53,463
3	October 5	at Detroit Lions	L 28-14	2-1	58,210
4	October 11	Minnesota Vikings	L 24-0	2-2	45,485
5	October 18	San Diego Chargers	L 20-7	2-3	45,278
6	October 25	Detroit Lions	L 16-10	2-4	45,632
7	November 1	at Atlanta Falcons	W 23-14	3-4	58,850
8	November 8	San Francisco 49ers	L 37-16	3-5	45,607
9	November 15	at Green Bay Packers	L 20-19	3-6	56,263
10	November 22	Buffalo Bills	W 31-13	4-6	41,015
11	November 29	at Baltimore Colts	L 21-20	4-7	60,240
12	December 5	at Minnesota Vikings	L 16-13	4-8	47,900
13	December 13	Green Bay Packers	W 35-17	5-8	44,957
14	December 20	at New Orleans Saints	W 24-3	6-8	63,518

Saturday night (September 19), Monday night (October 5), Saturday (December 5)

Season summary

Week 1

Week 2

^[9]

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

	1	2	3	4	Total
• Bears	10	3	7	3	23
Falcons	0	7	7	0	14

Date: November 1
Location: Atlanta Stadium, Atlanta
Game start: 1:00 p.m.
Game weather: 62°F; wind 7

^[10]

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bills	6	0	0	7	13
• Bears	0	14	7	10	31

Date: November 22
Location: Wrigley Field o Chicago
Game start: 1:00 p.m. CST
Game weather: 43°F o Wind 22
Referee: John McDonough

^[11]

Week 11

Week 12

Week 13

Green Bay Packers at Chicago Bears

	1	2	3	4	Total
Packers	3	0	0	14	17
• Bears	14	7	7	7	35

Date: Sunday, December 13
Location: Wrigley Field, Chicago
Game start: 1:00 p.m. CST
Game weather: 32°F, wind 11 mph
Referee: Fred Silva

Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com

Week 14

	1	2	3	4	Total
• Bears	0	7	3	14	24
Saints	0	3	0	0	3

Date: December 20
Location: Tulane Stadium, New Orleans
Game start: 1:00 p.m. CST
Game weather: 65°F; wind 7
Referee: Jack Reader
TV announcers (CBS): Jack Drees and Eddie LeBaron

Jack Concannon 26/50, 280 Yds
Dick Gordon 9 Rec, 119 Yds

^[12]

Standings

NFC Central
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Minnesota Vikings	12	2	0	.857	5-1	10-1	335	143	W3
Detroit Lions	10	4	0	.714	4-2	7-4	347	202	W5
Green Bay Packers	6	8	0	.429	2-4	4-7	196	293	L2
Chicago Bears	6	8	0	.429	1-5	5-6	256	261	W2

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

References

^ "Cancer fatal to Piccolo of Bears at 26". Milwaukee Journal. press dispatches. June 16, 1970. p. 13, part 2.
^ "Brian Piccolo is dead at 26". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. June 17, 1970. p. 19.
^ "Sayers, Halas praise Piccolo's courage". Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. June 17, 1970. p. 1-part 2.
^ http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1970/07/22/page/49/article/bears-over-sue-evanston-n-u-over-use-of-dyche-stadium
^ "Pennant race at a glance". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). September 16, 1970. p. 16.
^ https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CHC/1970-schedule-scores.shtml
^ http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1971/03/10/page/56/article/n-u-asks-special-big-10-meeting
^ http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1971/04/14/page/85/article/renovations-key-to-soldier-field
^ Pro-Football-Reference.com
^ Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2014-Sep-14.
^ Pro-Football-Reference.com
^ Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2014-Sep-14.

[mjctlf-1] "Cancer fatal to Piccolo of Bears at 26". Milwaukee Journal. press dispatches. June 16, 1970. p. 13, part 2.

[apbpidats-2] "Brian Piccolo is dead at 26". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. June 17, 1970. p. 19.

[shppc-3] "Sayers, Halas praise Piccolo's courage". Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. June 17, 1970. p. 1-part 2.

[4] ttp://archives.chicagotribune.com/1970/07/22/page/49/article/bears-over-sue-evanston-n-u-over-use-of-dyche-stadium

[prceatg-5] "Pennant race at a glance". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). September 16, 1970. p. 16.

[6] ttps://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CHC/1970-schedule-scores.shtml

[7] ttp://archives.chicagotribune.com/1971/03/10/page/56/article/n-u-asks-special-big-10-meeting

[8] ttp://archives.chicagotribune.com/1971/04/14/page/85/article/renovations-key-to-soldier-field

[9] Pro-Football-Reference.com

[10] Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2014-Sep-14.

[11] Pro-Football-Reference.com

[12] Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2014-Sep-14.

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