# 1978 New Orleans Saints season

The 1978 New Orleans Saints season was the Saints’ twelfth season. Quarterback Archie Manning put together one of his finest seasons, earning the NFC Player of the Year award and becoming the Saints’ first Pro Bowl representative since the NFL–AFL merger as the Saints finished with a franchise-best 7–9 mark under new head coach Dick Nolan. Seven of the Saints’ losses came against teams that qualified for the playoffs (including both Super Bowl XIII teams, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Dallas Cowboys), whilst all nine losses came against teams who finished at or above .500.

## Offseason

* On August 5, the NFL played its first game in Mexico City. The Saints beat the Philadelphia Eagles by a score of 14–7.

### NFL draft

1978 New Orleans Saints draft :
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | College |
| 1 | 3 | Wes Chandler * | Wide receiver | Florida |
| 2 | 33 | James Taylor | Offensive tackle | Missouri |
| 3 | 60 | Barry Bennett | Defensive tackle | Concordia College |
| 4 | 87 | Don Schwartz | Defensive back | Washington State |
| 5 | 115 | Eric Felton | Defensive back | Texas Tech |
| 6 | 142 | Mike Rieker | Quarterback | Lehigh |
| 6 | 157 | Francis Chesley | Linebacker | Wyoming |
| 8 | 199 | Brooks Williams | Tight end | North Carolina |
| 9 | 226 | Richard Carter | Defensive back | North Carolina State |
| 11 | 283 | Nathan Besaint | Defensive tackle | Southern |
| 11 | 285 | Dave Riley | Running back | West Virginia |
| 12 | 310 | Larry Hardy | Tight end | Jackson State |
| Made roster * Made at least one Pro Bowl during career ||||||

## Regular season
### Schedule

| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue | Attendance |
| 1 | September 3 | Minnesota Vikings | W 31–24 | 1–0 | Louisiana Superdome | 54,187 |
| 2 | September 10 | at Green Bay Packers | L 17–28 | 1–1 | Milwaukee County Stadium | 54,336 |
| 3 | September 17 | Philadelphia Eagles | L 17–24 | 1–2 | Louisiana Superdome | 49,242 |
| 4 | September 24 | at Cincinnati Bengals | W 20–18 | 2–2 | Riverfront Stadium | 40,455 |
| 5 | October 1 | Los Angeles Rams | L 20–26 | 2–3 | Louisiana Superdome | 61,659 |
| 6 | October 8 | Cleveland Browns | L 16–24 | 2–4 | Louisiana Superdome | 50,158 |
| 7 | October 15 | at San Francisco 49ers | W 14–7 | 3–4 | Candlestick Park | 37,671 |
| 8 | October 22 | at Los Angeles Rams | W 10–3 | 4–4 | Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum | 47,574 |
| 9 | October 29 | New York Giants | W 28–17 | 5–4 | Louisiana Superdome | 59,807 |
| 10 | November 5 | at Pittsburgh Steelers | L 14–20 | 5–5 | Three Rivers Stadium | 48,526 |
| 11 | November 12 | Atlanta Falcons | L 17–20 | 5–6 | Louisiana Superdome | 70,323 |
| 12 | November 19 | at Dallas Cowboys | L 7–27 | 5–7 | Texas Stadium | 57,920 |
| 13 | November 26 | at Atlanta Falcons | L 17–20 | 5–8 | Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium | 55,121 |
| 14 | December 3 | San Francisco 49ers | W 24–13 | 6–8 | Louisiana Superdome | 50,068 |
| 15 | December 10 | Houston Oilers | L 12–17 | 6–9 | Louisiana Superdome | 63,169 |
| 16 | December 17 | at Tampa Bay Buccaneers | W 17–10 | 7–9 | Tampa Stadium | 51,207 |
| Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text. |||||||

### Standings

NFC West :
| viewtalkedit | W | L | T | PCT | DIV | CONF | PF | PA | STK |
| Los Angeles Rams$^{(1)}$ | 12 | 4 | 0 | .750 | 4–2 | 10–2 | 316 | 245 | W1 |
| Atlanta Falcons$^{(4)}$ | 9 | 7 | 0 | .563 | 5–1 | 8–4 | 240 | 290 | L1 |
| New Orleans Saints | 7 | 9 | 0 | .438 | 3–3 | 6–6 | 281 | 298 | W1 |
| San Francisco 49ers | 2 | 14 | 0 | .125 | 0–6 | 1–11 | 219 | 350 | L1 |