1976 St. Louis Cardinals (NFL) season

The 1976 St. Louis Cardinals season was the 57th season the franchise was in the league. The team failed to improve on their previous output of 11–3, instead regressing by one win. This was the first time in three seasons the team did not qualify for the playoffs. The Cardinals finished tied with the Washington Redskins for 2nd place in the NFC East, but they lost the tiebreaker due to Washington winning both matchups during the season.

Ultimately, the Cardinals became the only NFC team to win ten games without making the playoffs under a 14-game schedule.

Notably, they took on the San Diego Chargers in a preseason game in the first NFL game to take place in Japan.

Offseason

1976 expansion draft

St. Louis Cardinals selected during the expansion draft

style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle" | Round	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle" | Overall	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle" | Name	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle" | Position	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle" | Expansion team
0	0	Dwayne Crump	Cornerback	Seattle Seahawks
0	0	Gary Keithley	Quarterback	Seattle Seahawks
0	0	Council Rudolph	Defensive end	Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Schedule

style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Week	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Date	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Opponent	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Result	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Record	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Venue	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Attendance
1	September 12	at Seattle Seahawks	W 30–24	1–0	Kingdome	58,441
2	September 19	Green Bay Packers	W 29–0	2–0	Busch Memorial Stadium	48,842
3	September 26	at San Diego Chargers	L 24–43	2–1	San Diego Stadium	40,212
4	October 3	New York Giants	W 27–21	3–1	Busch Memorial Stadium	48,039
5	October 10	Philadelphia Eagles	W 33–14	4–1	Busch Memorial Stadium	44,933
6	October 17	Dallas Cowboys	W 21–17	5–1	Busch Memorial Stadium	50,317
7	Template:Dow tooltip	at Washington Redskins	L 10–20	5–2	RFK Stadium	48,325
8	October 31	San Francisco 49ers	W 23–20	6–2	Busch Memorial Stadium	50,365
9	November 7	at Philadelphia Eagles	W 17–14	7–2	Veterans Stadium	65,505
10	November 14	at Los Angeles Rams	W 30–28	8–2	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum	64,698
11	November 21	Washington Redskins	L 10–16	8–3	Busch Memorial Stadium	49,833
12	November 25	at Dallas Cowboys	L 14–19	8–4	Texas Stadium	62,498
13	Template:Dow tooltip	Baltimore Colts	W 24–17	9–4	Busch Memorial Stadium	48,282
14	December 12	at New York Giants	W 17–14	10–4	Giants Stadium	60,553
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 1: @ Seattle Seahawks

Week One: St. Louis Cardinals @ Seattle Seahawks – Game summary

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Cardinals	3	10	10	7	30
Seahawks	3	0	7	14	24

at Kingdome, Seattle, Washington

• Date: September 12
• Game time: 1:09 pm local
• Game weather: indoors
• Game attendance: 58,441
• Referee: Tom Bell
• TV announcers (CBS): Jim Thacker and Alex Hawkins
• Gamebook

Game information

First quarter STL – Jim Bakken 28-yard field goal, 6:22 (STL 3–0) SEA – Don Bitterlich 27-yard field goal, 1:15 (Tied 3–3) Second quarter STL – Ike Harris 12-yard pass from Jim Hart (Jim Bakken kick), 13:05 (STL 10–3) STL – Jim Bakken 22-yard field goal, 0:21 (STL 13–3) Third quarter STL – Pat Tilley 27-yard pass from Jim Hart (Jim Bakken kick), 12:51 (STL 20–3) STL – Jim Bakken 26-yard field goal, 5:47 (STL 23–3) SEA – Sam McCullum 15-yard pass from Jim Zorn 3:52 (Don Bitterlich kick), (STL 23–10) Fourth quarter STL – Jim Otis 1-yard run (Jim Bakken kick), 14:10 (STL 30–10) SEA – Sam McCullum 72-yard pass from Jim Zorn 13:50 (Don Bitterlich kick), (STL 30–17) SEA – Jim Zorn 8-yard run (Don Bitterlich kick), 5:09 (STL 30–24) Top passers STL – Jim Hart: 15/23, 180 yds, 2 TD, 1 INT SEA – Jim Zorn: 17/37, 292 yds, 2 TD, 2 INT Top rushers STL – Jim Otis: 27 car, 140 yds, 1 TD SEA – Andy Bolton: 12 car, 37 yds Top receivers STL – Steve Jones: 3 rec, 59 yds SEA – Sam McCullum: 4 rec, 112 yds, 2 TD Team – pass – rush – total – to STL – 175 – 281 – 456 – 2 SEA – 279 – 73 – 352 – 3