1972 Chicago Bears season

The 1972 Chicago Bears season was their 53rd regular season completed in the National Football League. The team finished with a 4–9–1 record, another below .500 showing, in head coach Abe Gibron's first season. But they had good success on the QB Rushing. QB Bobby Douglass ran on 143 carries for 968 yards and 8 Touchdowns. This would be later broken by Atlanta Falcons QB Michael Vick who became the first and only Quarterback to run over 1,000 yards in the NFL. But it would be held as a franchise record until Justin Fields broke that in the 2022 season. Only three other QBs have run for over 1,000 yards in one season, but they were all in the CFL.

1972 Chicago Bears season
Head coach	Abe Gibron
Home field	Soldier Field
Results
Record	4–9–1
Division place	4th NFC Central
Playoff finish	Did not qualify

NFL Draft

Main article: 1972 NFL draft

1972 Chicago Bears draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
1	3	Lionel Antoine	Offensive tackle	Southern Illinois	traded from the New York Giants
1	12	Craig Clemons	Safety	Iowa
3	62	Johnny Musso	Running back	Alabama
5	117	Bob Parsons	Tight end	Penn State
6	133	Bob Pifferini	Linebacker	UCLA
7	167	Jim Fassel	Quarterback	Long Beach State
7	182	Jim Osborne	Defensive tackle	Southern
8	192	Ralph Wirtz	Wide receiver	North Dakota State
9	219	Larry Horton	Defensive end	Iowa
10	247	Jack Turnbull	Center	Oregon State
11	272	Ed Wimberly	Defensive back	Jackson State
12	297	Doug Neill	Running back	Texas A&M
13	322	Jay Rood	Tackle	Southern (SD)
14	347	Bob Brown	Wide receiver	Rice
15	377	Roger Lawson	Running back	Western Michigan
16	402	Bill McKinney	Linebacker	West Texas A&M
17	427	LaVerne Dickinson	Defensive back	Southern
Made roster

Roster

1972 Chicago Bears roster

Quarterbacks (QB) 10 Bobby Douglass 7 John Huarte Running backs (RB) 35 Jim Harrison FB 33 Gary Kosins 22 Cyril Pinder 24 Don Shy Wide receivers (WR) 43 George Farmer 46 Matt Maslowski 84 Jim Seymour 21 Cecil Turner Tight ends (TE) 86 Bob Parsons 82 Earl Thomas 89 Bob Wallace

Offensive linemen (OL) 79 Lionel Antoine T 74 Bob Asher T 73 Rich Buzin T 52 Rich Coady C 61 Glen Holloway G 65 Randy Jackson T 64 Ernie Janet G 78 Bob Newton G Defensive linemen (DL) 82 Steve DeLong DE 85 Willie Holman DE 64 Larry Horton DT 67 Bill Line DT 71 Tony McGee DE 76 Bill Staley DT

Linebackers (LB) 31 Ross Brupbacher 55 Doug Buffone 51 Dick Butkus 30 Jimmy Gunn 54 Bill McKinney 58 Bob Pifferini Defensive backs (DB) 25 Craig Clemons SS 32 Charlie Ford CB 29 Bob Jeter DB 44 Garry Lyle FS 18 Jerry Moore 48 Ron Smith SS 20 Joe Taylor CB Special teams 88 Bobby Joe Green P 83 Mac Percival K

Reserve 75 Dave Hale DT (IR) Rookies in italics , 5 practice squad

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
1	September 17	Atlanta Falcons	L 21–37	0–1	Soldier Field	55,701
2	September 24	Los Angeles Rams	T 13–13	0–1–1	Soldier Field	55,701
3	October 1	Detroit Lions	L 24–38	0–2–1	Soldier Field	55,701
4	October 8	at Green Bay Packers	L 17–20	0–3–1	Lambeau Field	56,263
5	October 15	at Cleveland Browns	W 17–0	1–3–1	Cleveland Municipal Stadium	72,339
6	October 23	Minnesota Vikings	W 13–10	2–3–1	Soldier Field	55,701
7	October 29	at St. Louis Cardinals	W 27–10	3–3–1	Busch Memorial Stadium	50,464
8	November 5	at Detroit Lions	L 0–14	3–4–1	Tiger Stadium	54,418
9	November 12	Green Bay Packers	L 17–23	3–5–1	Soldier Field	55,701
10	November 19	San Francisco 49ers	L 21–34	3–6–1	Soldier Field	55,701
11	November 26	Cincinnati Bengals	L 3–13	3–7–1	Soldier Field	55,701
12	December 3	at Minnesota Vikings	L 10–23	3–8–1	Metropolitan Stadium	49,784
13	December 10	at Philadelphia Eagles	W 21–12	4–8–1	Veterans Stadium	65,720
14	December 17	at Oakland Raiders	L 21–28	4–9–1	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	54,711
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Standings

NFC Central
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Green Bay Packers	10	4	0	.714	5–1	8–3	304	226	W3
Detroit Lions	8	5	1	.607	2–4	6–5	339	290	W1
Minnesota Vikings	7	7	0	.500	4–2	6–5	301	252	L2
Chicago Bears	4	9	1	.321	1–5	3–7–1	225	275	L1