1969 Chicago Bears season

The 1969 Chicago Bears season was their 50th regular season completed in the National Football League. The team finished with a franchise-worst 1–13 record.^[1] This occurred despite the contributions of future Pro Football Fame players Dick Butkus and Gale Sayers. Sayers had torn the ligaments in his right knee in November 1968.^[2][3] After surgery, he went through a physical rehabilitation program with the help of teammate Brian Piccolo. In 1969, Sayers led the league in rushing once again with 1,032 yards,^[1] but lacked his previous speed, and averaged only 4.4 yards per carry. This would also turn out to be Sayers final full season, as he would be on the injured reserve list for the entire 1970 and '71 seasons before finally retiring.

1969 Chicago Bears season
Owner	George Halas
Head coach	Jim Dooley
Home stadium	Wrigley Field
Results
Record	1–13
Division place	4th Central
Playoffs	Did not qualify
← 1968 Bears seasons 1970 →

An already poor season was compounded in late November. Undersized fullback Piccolo had scored a touchdown in each of his final three games (November 2, 9, 16),^[4][5][6][7] but a persistent cough was diagnosed as cancer and he underwent chest surgery;^[8][9] he succumbed to the disease seven months later at age 26.^[10][11][12]

The Bears scored a total of only 27 points in 6 division games.

Offseason

Draft

Main article: 1969 NFL/AFL draft

1969 Chicago Bears draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
1	14	Rufus Mayes	OT	Ohio State
Made roster    †   Pro Football Hall of Fame    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Roster

1969 Chicago Bears roster

Quarterbacks (QB) 15 Virgil Carter 11 Jack Concannon 14 Bobby Douglass Running backs (RB) 29 Ronnie Bull FB 33 Mike Hull 22 Ross Montgomery 41 Brian Piccolo FB 40 Gale Sayers Wide receivers (WR) 36 Ron Copeland 45 Dick Gordon 80 Jerry Simmons 21 Cecil Turner 89 Bob Wallace Tight ends (TE) 84 Austin Denney 38 Ray Ogden 82 Emilio Vallez

Offensive linemen (OL) 65 Randy Jackson T 74 Wayne Mass T 71 Rufus Mayes T 68 Howard Mudd G 50 Mike Pyle C 67 George Seals G 63 Bob Wetoska G Defensive linemen (DL) 81 Marty Amsler 73 Frank Cornish DT 79 Dick Evey DT 75 Dave Hale DT 85 Willie Holman DE 70 Ken Kortas DT 87 Ed O'Bradovich DE 86 Loyd Phillips DE

Linebackers (LB) 55 Doug Buffone 51 Dick Butkus 59 Rudy Kuechenberg 53 Dave Martin 57 Dan Pride Defensive backs (DB) 23 Dick Daniels S 49 Major Hazelton 44 Garry Lyle FS 26 Bennie McRae CB 20 Joe Taylor CB 37 George Youngblood S Special teams (ST) 88 Bobby Joe Green P 83 Mac Percival K

Practice squad 35 Joe Aluise RB Rookies in italics

Preseason

On August 30, a crowd of 85,532 fans viewed a doubleheader at Cleveland's Municipal Stadium. In the first contest, the Bears played the AFL's Buffalo Bills,^[13] while the Cleveland Browns hosted the Green Bay Packers in the second match.^[14][15][16]

Regular season

Main article: 1969 NFL season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
1	September 21	at Green Bay Packers	L 0–17	0–1	Lambeau Field	50,861
2	September 28	at St. Louis Cardinals	L 17–20	0–2	Busch Memorial Stadium	50,039
3	October 5	at New York Giants	L 24–28	0–3	Yankee Stadium	62,583
4	October 12	Minnesota Vikings	L 0–31	0–4	Wrigley Field	45,757
5	October 19	at Detroit Lions	L 7–13	0–5	Tiger Stadium	54,732
6	October 26	Los Angeles Rams	L 7–9	0–6	Wrigley Field	45,985
7	November 2	at Minnesota Vikings	L 14–31	0–7	Metropolitan Stadium	47,900
8	November 9	Pittsburgh Steelers	W 38–7	1–7	Wrigley Field	45,851
9	November 16	at Atlanta Falcons	L 31–48	1–8	Atlanta Stadium	53,722
10	November 23	Baltimore Colts	L 21–24	1–9	Wrigley Field	45,455
11	November 30	Cleveland Browns	L 24–28	1–10	Wrigley Field	45,050
12	December 6	at San Francisco 49ers	L 21–42	1–11	Kezar Stadium	32,826
13	December 14	Green Bay Packers	L 3–21	1–12	Wrigley Field	45,216
14	December 21	Detroit Lions	L 3–20	1–13	Wrigley Field	41,879
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Standings

NFL Central
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Minnesota Vikings	12	2	0	.857	6–0	9–1	379	133	L1
Detroit Lions	9	4	1	.692	3–3	6–3–1	259	188	W2
Green Bay Packers	8	6	0	.571	3–3	5–5	269	221	W2
Chicago Bears	1	13	0	.071	0–6	0–10	210	339	L6

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