1978 Kansas City Chiefs season

The 1978 Kansas City Chiefs season began with the hiring of new head coach Marv Levy, formerly of the Canadian Football League's Montreal Alouettes. With the NFL expanding its schedule to 16 games, the Chiefs finished with a 4–12 record and fifth place in the AFC West.

Coach Levy's systematic restocking of a relatively barren defensive roster began with a 1978 draft class that included a pair of future Chiefs franchise hall of famers in defensive end Art Still and linebacker Gary Spani. Running back Ed Podolak, who was the club's all-time leading rusher at the time, retired in the offseason on June 15.^[1]

Perhaps Levy's most unconventional tactic in rebuilding the Chiefs was installing the Wing-T offense. "It was a situation where we took over a team that had the worst defensive record in the history of the National Football League," Levy explained.^[1] "We wanted to keep that defense off the field, so we ran the ball 60 times a game."^[1] The 1978 Chiefs team ran and ran often, posting franchise records with 663 rushing attempts and 2,986 ground yards.^[1] Levy's squad ran the ball a staggering 69 times in a 24–23 Opening Day win at Cincinnati on September 3, the most rushing attempts in an NFL contest since 1948.^[1] Five different players had 100-yard rushing games during the year, including running back Tony Reed, who finished the season with 1,053 yards to become the team's first 1,000-yard back since 1967.^[1] Despite the squad's Opening Day success, the club lost 10 of its next 11 games, including a pair of overtime decisions. However, the team showed signs of improvement with the defense recording a 23–0 shutout against San Diego on November 26 as the club concluded its first 16-game schedule with a 4–12 mark.^[1]

Offseason

NFL Draft

Regular season

1978 Kansas City Chiefs Team Starters

Offense

10    Mike Livingston       QB
21    Arnold Morgado        RB
32    Tony Reed             FB
22    Ted McKnight          WR
89    Henry Marshall        WR
88    Walter White          TE

60    Matt Herkenhoff       LT
73    Bob Simmons           LG
58    Jack Rudnay           C
65    Tom Condon            RG
77    Charlie Getty         RT

Defense

67    Art Still          LDE
61    Don Parrish        NT
75    Sylvester Hicks    RDE

64    Whitney Paul       LB
55    Dave Rozumek       LB
59    Gary Spani         LB
52    Tom Howard         LB

24    Gary Green         LCB
18    Emmitt Thomas      RCB
46    Tim Gray           SS
26    Gary Barbaro       FS

Kicking Team

3    Jan Stenerud      K
7    Zenon Andrusyshyn P
34   Eddie Payton      PR/KR

Schedule

Standings

References