1978 Baltimore Colts season


The 1978 Baltimore Colts season was the 26th season for the team in the National Football League. Under fourth-year head coach Ted Marchibroda, the Colts finished with 5 wins and 11 losses, tied for fourth in the AFC East division with the Buffalo Bills. Baltimore lost the tiebreaker to Buffalo based on head-to-head series. This was the first time under Marchibroda that Baltimore did not make the postseason.
With quarterback Bert Jones out for several weeks with a shoulder injury, Baltimore started the season in catastrophic fashion, losing their first two games by a combined score of 80–0. The Colts' first win of the season, in week three over New England on Monday Night Football, is one of the biggest regular season upsets in NFL history. The Patriots were favored by an overwhelming 17½ points, but the Colts scored 27 points in the fourth quarter, including a 90-yard kickoff return by running back Joe Washington with under a minute left to take the lead for good. In the game, Washington became the first player to throw a touchdown, catch a pass for a touchdown, and return a kickoff for a touchdown in the same game.

Offseason

NFL draft

Personnel

Staff

Roster

Regular season

Schedule

WeekDateOpponentResultRecordGame SiteAttendance
1September 4at Dallas CowboysL 0–380–1Texas Stadium
64,224
2September 10Miami DolphinsL 0–420–2Memorial Stadium
47,730
3September 18at New England PatriotsW 34–271–2Schaefer Stadium
57,284
4September 24at Buffalo BillsL 17–241–3Rich Stadium
55,270
5October 1Philadelphia EaglesL 14–171–4Memorial Stadium
50,314
6October 8at St. Louis CardinalsW 30–172–4Busch Memorial Stadium
47,479
7October 15New York JetsL 10–332–5Memorial Stadium
45,563
8October 22Denver BroncosW 7–63–5Memorial Stadium
54,057
9October 29at Miami DolphinsL 8–263–6Orange Bowl
53,524
10November 6Washington RedskinsW 21–174–6Memorial Stadium
57,631
11November 12at Seattle SeahawksW 17–145–6Kingdome
61,905
12November 19Cleveland BrownsL 24–455–7Memorial Stadium
45,341
13November 26New England PatriotsL 14–355–8Memorial Stadium
42,828
14December 3at New York JetsL 17–305–9Shea Stadium
50,248
15December 9at Pittsburgh SteelersL 13–35 5–10Three Rivers Stadium
41,957
16December 17Buffalo BillsL 14–21 5–11Memorial Stadium
25,415

This was the first NFL regular season with 16 games: the previous seventeen seasons had 14 games.

Results

Week 3

Standings