1978 Denver Broncos season

1978 Denver Broncos season
1978 Denver Broncos season
General manager	Fred Gehrke
Head coach	Red Miller
Home field	Mile High Stadium
Results
Record	10–6
Division place	1st AFC West
Playoff finish	Lost Divisional Playoffs; (at Steelers) 10–33
	← 1977; Broncos seasons; 1979 →;

The 1978 Denver Broncos season was the team's 19th year in professional football and its ninth with the National Football League (NFL). Led by second-year head coach Red Miller, the Broncos were 10–6, repeated as champions of the AFC West, and made the playoffs for the second straight season.

In the AFC divisional round, Denver lost on the road to the top-seeded Pittsburgh Steelers,^[1]^[2] 33–10, whom they had lost to two weeks earlier in the regular season finale at Mile High Stadium;^[3]^[4] Denver had clinched their division title six days earlier with a win over struggling Kansas City, while runners-up Oakland and Seattle both lost and fell to 8–7 with San Diego, two games back with one to play.^[5]

The Broncos were fifteenth in the league in scoring offense, while the defense finished second in points allowed and sixth in yards allowed. ^[6]

Offseason

NFL Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	College
1978 Denver Broncos draft
1	27	Don Latimer	DT	Miami (FL)
2	55	Bill Gay *	TE	USC
8	221	Frank Smith	OT	Alabama A&M
10	277	Vince Kinney	WR	Maryland
11	305	Lacy Brumley	OT	Clemson
Made roster † Pro Football Hall of Fame * Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Personnel

Staff

**1978 Denver Broncos staff**
	Front office Chairman of the Board – Gerald Phipps President – Allan Phipps Vice President/General Manager – Fred Gehrke Director of Player Personnel – Carroll Hardy Head coaches Head Coach – Red Miller Offensive coaches Quarterbacks – Babe Parilli Offensive Backfield – Paul Roach Wide Receivers – Fran Polsfoot Offensive Line – Ken Gray			Defensive coaches Defensive Coordinator – Joe Collier Defensive Line – Stan Jones Linebackers – Bob Zeman Defensive Backs – Richie McCabe Defensive Assistant/Special Teams Assistant – Bill Belichick Special teams coaches Special Teams – Marv Braden

^[7]

Roster

**1978 Denver Broncos roster**
Quarterbacks (QB) 7 Craig Morton 14 Norris Weese 12 Craig Penrose Running backs (RB) 24 Otis Armstrong 35 Larry Canada 30 Jim Jensen 32 Jon Keyworth FB 41 Rob Lytle Wide receivers (WR) 25 Haven Moses 82 Jack Dolbin 80 Rick Upchurch Tight ends (TE) 85 Ron Egloff 88 Riley Odoms		Offensive linemen (OL) 64 Billy Bryan C 62 Tom Glassic G 60 Paul Howard G 65 Glenn Hyde G 71 Claudie Minor T 76 Tom Neville T 67 Steve Schindler G Defensive linemen (DL) 77 Lyle Alzado DE 68 Rubin Carter NT 79 Barney Chavous DE 70 Paul Smith DE 63 John Grant		Linebackers (LB) 56 Larry Evans 53 Randy Gradishar 57 Tom Jackson 59 Joe Rizzo 51 Bob Swenson Defensive backs (DB) 43 Steve Foley CB 29 Bernard Jackson FS 36 Bill Thompson SS 20 Louis Wright CB Special teams 10 Bucky Dilts P 15 Jim Turner K		Reserve 30 Jim Jensen RB (IR) -- Gary Silvestri DE (IR) -- Franky Smith T (IR) Rookies in italics

Source:

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
1	September 3	Oakland Raiders	W 14–6	1–0	Mile High Stadium	75,092
2	September 11	at Minnesota Vikings	L 9–12 (OT)	1–1	Metropolitan Stadium	46,508
3	September 17	San Diego Chargers	W 27–14	2–1	Mile High Stadium	74,983
4	September 24	at Kansas City Chiefs	W 23–17 (OT)	3–1	Arrowhead Stadium	60,593
5	October 1	Seattle Seahawks	W 28–7	4–1	Mile High Stadium	74,989
6	October 8	at San Diego Chargers	L 0–23	4–2	San Diego Stadium	50,077
7	October 16	Chicago Bears	W 16–7	5–2	Mile High Stadium	75,008
8	October 22	at Baltimore Colts	L 6–7	5–3	Memorial Stadium	54,057
9	October 29	at Seattle Seahawks	W 20–17 (OT)	6–3	Kingdome	62,948
10	November 5	New York Jets	L 28–31	6–4	Mile High Stadium	74,983
11	November 12	at Cleveland Browns	W 19–7	7–4	Cleveland Stadium	70,856
12	November 19	Green Bay Packers	W 16–3	8–4	Mile High Stadium	74,965
13	November 23	at Detroit Lions	L 14–17	8–5	Pontiac Silverdome	71,785
14	December 3	at Oakland Raiders	W 21–6	9–5	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	53,932
15	December 10	Kansas City Chiefs	W 24–3	10–5	Mile High Stadium	74,149
16	December 16	Pittsburgh Steelers	L 17–21	10–6	Mile High Stadium	74,104
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Monday night (September 11, October 16),^[8]^[9] Thursday (November 23: Thanksgiving),^[10] Saturday (December 16)^[3]^[4]
This was the first NFL regular season with 16 games.

Standings

AFC West
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Denver Broncos⁽³⁾	10	6	0	.625	7–1	8–4	282	198	L1
Oakland Raiders	9	7	0	.563	3–5	5–7	311	283	W1
Seattle Seahawks	9	7	0	.563	4–4	6–6	345	358	W1
San Diego Chargers	9	7	0	.563	5–3	7–5	355	309	W3
Kansas City Chiefs	4	12	0	.250	1–7	4–10	243	327	L2