The 1968 season was the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

' 49th in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

. The team failed to improve on their 7–6–1 record from 1967 and finished with a 7–7 record under first-year head coach Jim Dooley and earning them a second-place finish in the Central Division within the NFL's Western Conference, a game behind the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

. Star running back

Gale Sayers Gale Eugene Sayers (May 30, 1943September 23, 2020) was an American professional football player who was both a halfback and return specialist in the National Football League (NFL). In a relatively brief but highly productive NFL career, Saye ...

tore the ligaments in his right knee against

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

on November 10 and was lost for the season. The Bears had the tiebreaker advantage over Minnesota, after defeating them twice. They needed a win over the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

in the season finale to clinch the division title, but lost by a point at home. The following season, Chicago posted its worst record in franchise history at 1–13. The Bears' next postseason appearance was in

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

, as a wild card team, and the next division title came in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

Offseason

George Halas George Stanley Halas Sr. (; February 2, 1895October 31, 1983), nicknamed "Papa Bear" and "Mr. Everything", was an American professional football player, coach, and team owner. He was the founder and owner of the National Football League's Chic ...

, age 73, retired as head coach of the Bears for the fourth and final time on May 27. Dooley, 38, was promoted and introduced as head coach the following day.

NFL/AFL Draft

Roster

Regular season

Schedule

Game summaries

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

16 Rush, 108 Yds

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

18 Rush, 143 Yds

Week 8

24 Rush, 205 YdsPro-Football-Reference.com
Retrieved 2014-Oct-31.

Mac Percival Mac L. Percival (born February 26, 1940, in Vernon, Texas) is a former American football placekicker in the National Football League for the Chicago Bears and Dallas Cowboys. He played college basketball at Texas Tech University. Early years Per ...

booted the game-winning field goal with 16 seconds remaining on a rare free kick following a fair catch.

Standings

References

Chicago Bears seasons

{{ChicagoBears-season-stub