1979 St. Louis Cardinals (NFL) season

1979 St. Louis Cardinals season
Head coach	Bud Wilkinson Larry Wilson interim
Owner	Bill Bidwill
Home field	Busch Memorial Stadium
Results
Record	5–11
Division place	5th NFC East
Playoff finish	did not qualify

The 1979 St. Louis Cardinals season was the team's 60th year with the National Football League and the 20th season in St. Louis. Bud Wilkinson would be fired in week 13 after starting 3-10, Larry Wilson would take over as interim head coach and lead the Cardinals to a 2-1 record to finish the season. Wilson however would not return for the 1980 season but would return 9 years later when the Cardinals had moved to Phoenix as Vice President and General Manager.

Offseason

NFL Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	School/Club Team

Personnel

Staff

1979 St. Louis Cardinals staff
	Front office Owner – Bill Bidwill Vice President of Operations – Joe Sullivan Director of Pro Personnel – Larry Wilson Head coaches Head Coach – Bud Wilkinson Offensive coaches Quarterbacks/Receivers – Harry Gilmer Offensive Backfield – Jim Sweeney Offensive Line – Duane Putnam Special Assistant – Leon McLaughlin			Defensive coaches Defensive Coordinator – Tom Bettis Defensive Line – Rudy Feldman Defensive Secondary – Fred Glick Special teams coaches Special Teams – Jerry Thompson Strength and conditioning Flexibility and Strength – Don Brown

Regular season

In his NFL debut, Ottis Anderson had 193 rushing yards.^[1]

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Attendance
1	September 2, 1979	Dallas Cowboys	L 22–21	50,855
2	September 9, 1979	at New York Giants	W 27–14	71,370
3	September 16, 1979	Pittsburgh Steelers	L 24–21	50,416
4	September 23, 1979	Washington Redskins	L 17–7	50,680
5	September 30, 1979	at Los Angeles Rams	L 21–0	48,160
6	October 7, 1979	at Houston Oilers	W 24–17	53,043
7	October 14, 1979	Philadelphia Eagles	L 24–20	48,367
8	October 21, 1979	at Dallas Cowboys	L 22–13	64,300
9	October 28, 1979	Cleveland Browns	L 38–20	47,845
10	November 4, 1979	Minnesota Vikings	W 37–7	47,213
11	November 11, 1979	at Washington Redskins	L 30–28	50,868
12	November 18, 1979	at Philadelphia Eagles	L 16–13	70,235
13	November 25, 1979	at Cincinnati Bengals	L 34–28	25,103
14	December 2, 1979	San Francisco 49ers	W 13–10	41,593
15	December 9, 1979	New York Giants	W 29–20	39,802
16	December 16, 1979	at Chicago Bears	L 42–6	42,810

Standings

NFC East
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Dallas Cowboys^(1)	11	5	0	.688	6–2	10–2	371	313	W3
Philadelphia Eagles^(4)	11	5	0	.688	6–2	9–3	339	282	W1
Washington Redskins	10	6	0	.625	5–3	8–4	348	295	L1
New York Giants	6	10	0	.375	1–7	5–9	237	323	L3
St. Louis Cardinals	5	11	0	.313	2–6	4–8	307	358	L1

Awards and records

• Ottis Anderson, Associated Press Offensive Rookie of the Year^[1]

References

1. Sports Illustrated, Oct. 27, 2008, p.24, Vol. 109, No. 16

• Cardinals on Pro Football Reference
• Cardinals on jt-sw.com