1971 Chicago Bears season

1971 Chicago Bears season
Head coach	Jim Dooley
Owner	George Halas
Home field	Soldier Field
Results
Record	6–8
Division place	3rd NFC Central
Playoff finish	did not qualify

The 1971 Chicago Bears season was their 52nd regular season completed in the National Football League. The club posted a 6–8 record, another below .500 showing, eventually costing head coach Jim Dooley his job. This was their 1st season at Soldier Field.

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Attendance
1	September 19, 1971	Pittsburgh Steelers	W 17–15	55,049
2	September 26, 1971	at Minnesota Vikings	W 20–17	47,900
3	October 3, 1971	at Los Angeles Rams	L 17–3	66,957
4	October 10, 1971	New Orleans Saints	W 35–14	55,049
5	October 17, 1971	at San Francisco 49ers	L 13–0	44,000
6	October 24, 1971	at Detroit Lions	W 28–23	54,418
7	October 31, 1971	Dallas Cowboys	W 23–19	55,049
8	November 7, 1971	Green Bay Packers	L 17–14	55,049
9	November 14, 1971	Washington Redskins	W 16–15	55,049
10	November 21, 1971	Detroit Lions	L 28–3	55,049
11	November 29, 1971	at Miami Dolphins	L 34–3	75,312
12	December 5, 1971	at Denver Broncos	L 6–3	51,200
13	December 12, 1971	at Green Bay Packers	L 31–10	56,263
14	December 19, 1971	Minnesota Vikings	L 27–10	55,049

Game summaries

Week 1

	1	2	3	4	Total
Steelers	0	6	6	3	15
Bears	0	3	0	14	17

at Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois

• Date: Sunday, September 19
• Game time: 1:00 p.m.
• Game weather: 63°F, wind 12 mph
• Pro-Football-Reference.com

Game information

Second Quarter Steelers – Preston Pearson recovered fumble in end zone (kick failed) – Steelers 6–0 Bears – Mac Percival 33-yard field goal – Steelers 6–3 Third Quarter Steelers – Roy Gerela 32-yard field goal – Steelers 9–3 Steelers – Roy Gerela 29-yard field goal – Steelers 12–3 Fourth Quarter Steelers – Roy Gerela 42-yard field goal – Steelers 15–3 Bears – Ross Brupbacher 30-yard fumble return (Mac Percival kick) – Steelers 15–10 Bears – George Farmer 8-yard pass from Kent Nix (Mac Percival kick) – Bears 17–15 Steelers Terry Bradshaw 10/24, 129 Yds, 4 INT John Fuqua 17 Rush, 114 Yds Ron Shanklin 6 Rec, 113 Yds Bears Jack Concannon 15/26, 116 Yds, INT Don Shy 9 Rush, 19 Yds George Farmer 4 Rec, 59 Yds, TD

Week 2

1 2 3 4 Total • Bears 0 0 3 17 20 Vikings 0 7 10 0 17 Date: September 26 Location: Metropolitan Stadium Game start: 2:00 p.m. EST Game weather: 56°F; wind 13

Scoring summary Q2 MIN Grim 4 yard pass from Cuozzo (Cox kick) MIN 7–0 Q3 CHI Percival 45 yard field goal MIN 7–3 Q3 MIN Grim 52 yard pass from Cuozzo (Cox kick) MIN 14–3 Q3 MIN Cox 14 yard field goal MIN 17–3 Q4 CHI Gordon 36 yard pass from Nix (Percival kick) MIN 17–10 Q4 CHI Percival 45 yard field goal MIN 17–13 Q4 CHI Gordon 19 yard pass from Nix (Percival kick) CHI 20–17

• Dick Gordon 10 Rec, 115 Yds

^[1]

Standings

NFC Central
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Minnesota Vikings	11	3	0	.786	5–1	9–2	245	139	W2
Detroit Lions	7	6	1	.538	2–3–1	3–6–1	341	286	L2
Chicago Bears	6	8	0	.429	2–4	5–6	185	276	L5
Green Bay Packers	4	8	2	.333	2–3–1	2–7–2	274	298	L1

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

References

1. Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2015-Dec-14.