Menu

1977 NFL

1977 Los Angeles Rams: The End Of The Knox Era

, , , , ,

The 1977 Los Angeles Rams came into the season looking to take that next step—after three straight losses in the NFC Championship Game, they were seeking the franchise’s first Super Bowl appearance. Instead, the step they took was backward—an early playoff exit that spelled the end of head coach Chuck Knox’s otherwise successful tenure in L.A.

Los Angeles was dealing with quarterback instability and controversy. James Harris, the previous incumbent, had the support of Knox, but not of ownership. Harris ended up in San Diego. The Rams had a young backup in Pat Haden who had played a lot of consequential games in 1976. But the front office made a move that could be either described as “bold” or “desperate.” They signed the legendary, but aging, Joe Namath.

Namath would only start four games, not play particularly well, get hurt, and retire. Haden took over and started the final ten games of what was then a 14-game regular season. Haden made the Pro Bowl. His 57 percent completion rate, 7.2 yards-per-attempt and 2.8 percent interception rate were all solid numbers by the standards of the era. He had a big-play threat in Pro Bowl wide receiver Harold Jackson, and a reliable tight end in Terry Nelson.

Haden’s emergence was heartening, but the real key to the offense was a potent running game. Lawrence McCutcheon had a Pro Bowl year, running for over 1,200 yards. John Cappelletti and Wendell Tyler were both reliable change-of-pace backs. The offensive line had a trio of Pro Bowlers in center Rich Saul, veteran left guard Tom Mack and left tackle Doug Frances. They also had a 24-year-old right guard in Dennis Hannah who was on the verge of breaking out as a Pro Bowler himself.

It all added up to an offense that produced the fourth-most points in the NFL. And the defense was even better, ranking second in points allowed. Jack Youngblood recorded 9 ½ sacks. He was joined in the Pro Bowl by defensive tackle Larry Books and linebacker Isiah Robertson. The secondary trio of Pat Thomas, Monte Jackson and Bill Simpson combined to intercept 16 passes.

The season began poorly in Atlanta. The running game didn’t fire up, and they lost three fumbles. Namath couldn’t get anything going in the air and the Rams lost to a mediocre team, 17-6. Things trended back upward in the home opener against Philadelphia. The Rams pounded a bad Eagles team on the ground, to the tune of a 220-31 rush yardage edge. Namath threw a couple early touchdown passes to get the lead and Los Angeles churned out a 20-0 win.

A game with San Francisco was a penalty-ridden affair both ways, and the Rams clung to a 17-14 lead after three quarters. They had the running game going and were preventing the 49ers from doing the same. It made the difference in the final period, as L.A. pulled away to win 34-14.

A Monday Night visit to face the playoff-bound Chicago Bears would be a threshold point in the season. After taking an early 13-0 lead, the defense had an uncharacteristic letdown, giving up two long touchdown passes. They couldn’t stop the great Bear running back, Walter Payton. Namath threw four interceptions and before the night was over, suffered the injury that forced a quarterback change. In the meantime, Los Angeles dropped a 24-23 decision and fell to 2-2.

The NFC West—which then included the Falcons, 49ers, and New Orleans Saints—wasn’t very good. But this was also an era where there was just one wild-card berth available in a four-team NFC playoff bracket. Which meant that a 2-2 start could trigger a little more urgency than would be the case today.

L.A. hosted New Orleans, and while the Rams were sloppy, losing three turnovers, they were also controlling the line of scrimmage. McCutchen ran for 126 yards, the defense did its job and a 14-7 win put the Rams back on track.

Another Monday Night date awaited, this one with a perennial contender in the Minnesota Vikings. The Rams were ready. In the first half, Haden threw for two TDs and ran for another, building a 21-0 halftime lead. The final rush yardage advantage registered in at 283-98, with a 102-yard night from Tyler. Los Angeles collected three turnovers and committed none. That’s the recipe for blowing out a contender 35-3.

But there was a letdown in New Orleans a week later. Haden played well, going 17/26 for 251 yards and no mistakes. Harold Jackson caught eight passes for 127 yards. But the Rams were pounded on the ground, giving up 253 rush yards. They lost 27-26 on a late field goal.

A home game with the woeful Tampa Bay Buccaneers, in their second year of existence, was the ideal medicine. Haden threw an early 51-yard touchdown strike to Harold Jackson, McCutcheon ran for a TD and it was 17-0 by the half. The final was 31-zip.

Los Angeles traveled to Milwaukee, where the Green Bay Packers used to play three of their home games each year. The Rams took advantage of a bad team, shutting down the Packer running game, building a 17-0 lead by halftime, and winning 24-6. Los Angeles kept the winning going on their return trip to San Francisco. McCutcheon ran for 100 yards, the defense allowed just 92 passing yards and the Rams played clean football. They won 23-10.

The last three weeks had been against subpar competition, but L.A. had the feel of a team that was gaining steam. They took the show on the road to mediocre Cleveland. Neither team took care of the ball very well, with ten combined turnovers. But with McCutcheon going for 104 yards, the Rams enjoyed a decisive 216-90 yardage edge on the ground, and they won 9-0.

Los Angeles was sitting on an 8-3 record. Atlanta was still in pursuit at 6-5. The Falcons had a head-to-head win over the Rams from the season opener and the rematch was still to come, so L.A. couldn’t count on a tiebreaker. In the broader NFC picture, Los Angeles was a game ahead of 7-4 Minnesota, in the race for the 2-seed. The Rams trailed the 9-2 Dallas Cowboys in the push for the 1-seed, and the tiebreaker scenario there didn’t look promising.

A big battle with the defending Super Bowl champion Oakland Raiders was up. By the time kickoff arrived on the West Coast, Atlanta had lost to New England. The NFC West was now there for the taking. Playing at home, the Rams came through. They won the turnover battle 6-2. Trailing 14-13 in the fourth quarter, Haden went up top to Harold Jackson for a 43-yard touchdown pass. With the 20-14 win, the Rams were now 5-for-5 in winning division titles in the Knox Era.

That took a little of the juice out of the Falcons’ visit to L.A. for the regular season’s penultimate game, but the Rams were still playing for playoff position. They outrushed the Falcons 265-64, led by 152 yards from McCutcheon. The 23-7 win clinched the 2-seed and a home game in the divisional playoffs. When Dallas won on Monday Night, it took the top seed out of play and locked Los Angeles’ playoff position in.

The Rams closed the season with an early Saturday afternoon game in Washington. The Redskins were trying to stay alive in what proved a futile effort to catch the Bears for the wild-card spot. Haden split time with the new backup QB, Vince Ferragamo, and McCutcheon saw limited duty. A 17-14 loss ended the regular season with a 10-4 record.

Minnesota was coming to Los Angeles on the day after Christmas for the game that would conclude Divisional Round Weekend. The Rams had lost to the Vikings in the NFC Championship Game in both 1974 and 1976. They were a playoff nemesis. But this year, Los Angeles had been the far superior team, and they came in as a (-10) favorite.

But the weather was decidedly uncooperative. Heavy rain left the field in an unplayable mud. Photos from this game are iconic, with jerseys almost indecipherable. Any talent edge was negated. McCutcheon was able to grind out 102 yards, but that was answered by 101 from Minnesota’s Chuck Foreman. Haden threw three interceptions. The Rams trailed 14-0 in the fourth quarter and lost 14-7.

It was a bitter pill—enough that it marked the end of Knox’s tenure. He stepped down after the season. Fortunately for both the coach and the franchise, there was still more success ahead. Knox would turn both Buffalo and Seattle into contenders over the next decade. And the Rams? They made it back to the NFC Championship Game in 1978, and finally reached the Super Bowl in 1979.

1977 Oakland Raiders: A Repeat Bid Comes Up Just Short

, , , , ,

After a decade of frustration, marked by excellent teams and playoff losses, the Raiders had gotten over the top with a Super Bowl title in 1976. The 1977 Oakland Raiders continued to contend and extended their streak of consecutive AFC Championship Game appearances to five. But they came up short of a repeat championship.

The league’s most prolific offense was the key to success. Ken Stabler had a Pro Bowl year at age 32. While he was prone to interceptions, that was also more common—and acceptable—in this era, so long as you made big plays. And Stabler did. His 7.4 yards-per-attempt was third-best among starting quarterbacks. He was also efficient, with a 58 percent completion rate that ranked fourth in the league.

Stabler had the NFL’s best tight end in Dave Casper, who caught 48 balls for 584 yards—and that number doesn’t include his biggest catches, which came in the postseason. Cliff Branch was now 33-years-old, but the wide receiver still made the Pro Bowl. Branch, along with Fred Biletnikoff, each caught 33 passes.

But the real key to the offensive explosion was a powerhouse running game. Mark van Eeghen ran for almost 1,300 yards in what was then still a 14-game regular season schedule. Clarence Davis added nearly 800 yards. They both ran behind a terrific line, anchored by its Hall of Fame left side of tackle Art Shell and guard Gene Upshaw. Both made 1st-team All-Pro in 1977. Dave Dalby was a Pro Bowl center.

A prime reason that Oakland often ran just a step behind other great AFC teams in this era, from Pittsburgh to Miami earlier in the decade, was that the Raider defense usually wasn’t elite. That was the case in 1977, when the Raider defense ranked 14th in a 28-team league for points allowed.

There were no Pro Bowlers on the defensive side of the ball in ’77, but there were some playmakers. Defensive ends Pat Toomay and John Matuszak combined for 23 ½ sacks. Free safety Jack Tatum was one of the hardest hitters in the league. But the D could never really overcome the injury to one of their more consistent performers, linebacker Phil Villapiano.

Defensive problems certainly weren’t evident in the early going. Oakland opened the season at home against mediocre San Diego. The Raiders outrushed the Chargers 178-59, won the turnover battle 3-1 and took home a penalty-ridden game 24-0.

That set the stage for a high-profile visit to Pittsburgh—the teams who had played for the AFC Championship each of the last three years. In our own day, this would either be prime-time, or at least late Sunday afternoon viewing. In 1977, it just kicked off at 1 PM EST.

While Pittsburgh wanted to reassert themselves atop the AFC, Oakland had their own motivation. Their victory in last year’s playoffs had been diminished by many in the public because the Steeler running backs, Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier were injured. Franco and Rocky were healthy today. And the Raider defense shut them down. They forced five turnovers and sacked Terry Bradshaw five times. The 16-7 win marked the third time in a calendar year that Oakland had beaten Pittsburgh.

A Monday Night visit at lowly Kansas City saw the Raiders get out to a slow start, and they trailed 21-13 at the half. But the offense was moving the ball. Both van Eeghen and Davis cleared the 100-yard mark rushing, and Casper did the same receiving. Oakland won 37-28.

The Raiders went on to visit Cleveland. They forced five turnovers from the mediocre Browns, van Eeghen rushed for 114 yards, and Oakland stayed undefeated with a 26-10 win.

Denver had gone back and forth between contention and irrelevance in the 1970s to date. This ’77 edition of the Broncos were decidedly contenders, and the first head-to-head battle in Oakland was between 4-0 teams. Stabler threw a nine-yard touchdown pass to Casper to get a 7-0 lead. That was about the last thing that went right for the Raiders. Stabler threw seven interceptions, including a Pick-6. Unsurprisingly, it led to a 30-7 loss.

Oakland went on to play a bad New York Jets team in old Shea Stadium and dug themselves a 27-14 hole after three quarters. What the Raiders were doing was running the ball, to the tune of a 210-67 rush yardage edge. By the fourth quarter, that paid off. Stabler threw touchdown passes to Casper and Mike Sinai, making the Jets pay for an earlier missed extra point in a 28-27 win.

That set up a fast turnaround for the road rematch with Denver. Stabler again opened this matchup with an early touchdown pass, this one to Branch, for a 7-0 lead. This time, he played well the rest of the way. There were no turnovers. There were 200 rush yards, 105 of them from Davis. By playing clean football, the Raiders built a 24-0 lead by the third quarter and closed a 24-14 win. The AFC West rivals were both 6-1 as the season moved to the second half.

A home date with the subpar Seattle Seahawks got off to a slow start, and Oakland only led 3-0 after a quarter. But with Davis going for 100 yards, and Stabler playing clean football, the Raiders rolled to a 44-7 win.

The Houston Oilers were starting to put together a contender, one that would emerge as a playoff team the following year. They came into Oakland and had the Raiders down 29-24 in the third quarter of what was a turnover-laden game both ways. What Stabler was doing was making big plays. He went 23/31 for 264 yards, with Branch catching eight of those passes for 115 yards. Oakland rallied to win 34-29.

But the following week, Stabler played his worst game of the year in San Diego. He went 4/10 for 40 yards and was yanked for backup Mike Rae. The Raiders were getting outrushed decisively, 263-112. They made enough red-zone stops to keep it close, but still lost 12-7.

In the meantime, Denver beat Kansas City. The Broncos not only took a one-game lead, but they also took the lead in terms of division record, which would be the key tiebreaker, given the head-to-head split.

Oakland came back home and took out their frustrations on a poor Buffalo Bills team on Monday Night Football. The Raiders pummeled the Bills up front, to the tune of a 307-65 edge in rush yardage. 143 of those yards came from van Eeghen. The final was 34-13.

There was only one wild-card spot available in 1977, and at 9-2, Oakland had a one-game lead on Miami. The Raiders were also in reasonable position for the tiebreakers, depending on how the final three weeks played out.

But Oakland gave away their cushion in a big road game against the contending Los Angeles Rams. Stabler threw four interceptions, and the Raiders lost a close 20-14 game. Denver knocked off Houston and clinched the AFC West. Oakland and Miami were both 9-3, with the Raiders still controlling their own destiny.

Another marquee NFC opponent awaited in the Minnesota Vikings. It was a home game, and by the time the Raiders took the field, the Dolphins had lost in New England. Whether head coach John Madden knew this and informed his team, I don’t know. But Oakland played hungry. In short order, van Eeghen ran for a TD, Stabler threw one to Branch, and the defense scored a touchdown. It was 21-0 quickly. The Raiders collected seven turnovers, van Eeghen rushed for 112 yards and a 35-13 rout secured a playoff spot.

Madden took the opportunity to let Rae start the home finale against Kansas City. The backup QB threw a 100-yard Pick-6 and the Raiders trailed 20-12 in the fourth quarter. But Rae, aided by a ground game that rolled up over 240 yards, rallied Oakland to a 21-20 win.

The Raiders finished the season 11-3. It was the second-best record in the AFC, but as the wild-card, they would have to go on the road for the postseason. That road would start on a Christmas Eve Saturday afternoon against the Baltimore Colts.

In the course of the great 1970s NFL decade, Oakland had already played in some all-time classic playoff games. From the crushing and controversial loss in Pittsburgh in 1972, to the epic win over Miami in 1974, the Raiders had their place in the history books. Today in Baltimore, they played another one.

Davis took off on a 30-yard touchdown jaunt in the first quarter for a 7-0 lead. But Stabler threw a Pick-6 in the second quarter and the Raiders trailed 10-7 at the half. In the second half, both offenses started trading blows. Stabler threw a ten-yard TD pass to Casper. The Colts returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown. Stabler threw an eight-yard touchdown pass to Casper. Oakland led 21-17 going into the final period.

The Raiders were getting the better of the flow of play and would outgain the Colts 491-301. But losing the turnover battle 4-0, along with giving up a special teams score, prevented Oakland from getting control. Baltimore scored to take the lead, 24-21. Stabler kept throwing. He finished 21/40 for 345 yards, with Biletnikoff and Branch each going over the 100-yard mark. Oakland went back up front, 28-24.

Baltimore had their own response and took a 31-28 lead. The Raiders had the ball on their own 44-yard line with 2:17 to play.

The next play would become known as “Ghost to the Post” in NFL lore. It drew its name from Casper (“The Friendly Ghost”), running a post pattern. Stabler hit with him a deep ball that set up the tying field goal.

At 31-31, the game went to overtime. Then it went to a second overtime. Finally, it was Stabler and Casper again early in the sixth quarter. A ten-yard touchdown pass won the classic battle, 37-31.

That set up Round 3 with Denver, after the Broncos took out the Steelers later that day. The AFC Championship Game would take its own place in NFL lore, although not for the reasons any Oakland fan wanted. In a game where neither team ran the ball well, the Raiders trailed 7-3 in the third quarter. Denver was on the doorstep of adding to the lead.

They gave the ball to Rob Lytle. Tatum leveled a big hit and forced a fumble. Raider defensive back Mike McCoy scooped it up and might have been running for a long time. But the play was blown dead. It was a premature whistle in the age before instant reply. Denver scored on the next play. It was the difference in a game that ended as a 21-17 loss.

The loss was a bitter play to swallow. It also—though not apparent at the time—represented at least a pause in the era of Oakland’s excellence. A late-season fade cost the Raiders a playoff berth in 1978 and Madden retired. Tom Flores took over and Oakland again missed the playoffs in 1979. But it was just a hiccup. By 1980, Flores led the Raiders to another Super Bowl trophy. And in 1983, he did it again.

1977 Pittsburgh Steelers: Modest Regression In A Dynastic Decade

, , , , ,

The 1977 Pittsburgh Steelers were looking to get back on top of the football world. After Super Bowl victories in 1974 and 1975, the Steelers had “slipped” to losing in the AFC Championship Game in 1976. But that loss had been riddled with injuries and Pittsburgh still had the best defense in the league. There was every reason to see ’77 as a year they returned to the top. Instead, the season saw regression across the board and it required some breaks simply to earn a sixth consecutive playoff trip.

Franco Harris continued to be reliable on offense. The future Hall of Fame running back went for over 1,100 yards and was 1st-team All-NFL. Lynn Swann had a Pro Bowl year on the flanks, catching 50 balls for 789 yards. John Stallworth was starting to emerge as a big-time threat on the other side, catching 44 passes for nearly 18 yards a pop. Bennie Cunningham was a reliable tight end.

Terry Bradshaw was pulling the trigger on the offense and Terry could make big plays. His 8.0 yards-per-attempt was the best in the league. But his TD-INT ratio was 17-19. While that’s considerably more normal for this era than it would be today, the interceptions still amount to over 6 percent of his total passes. And that ranked 20th in the 28-team league. The completion percentage of 52 percent was mediocre.

Even so, the offense wasn’t the problem. With the running game and the boom-or-bust passing attack, the Steelers ranked seventh in the NFL in points scored.

Pittsburgh’s Steel Curtain defense had been its crown jewel and the D was coming off a ’76 campaign where they had spun five shutouts in what was then a 14-game schedule. This year, there was drastic slippage.

The Steelers still got Pro Bowl years from great players in defensive tackle Joe Greene and linebacker Jack Lambert. Jack Ham, another great linebacker, was 1st-team All-NFL. Mel Blount intercepted six passes from his cornerback spot. Steve Furness and Dwight White combined for 15 sacks up front. But it wasn’t enough. Pittsburgh tumbled to 17th in the NFL in points allowed.

A home game with subpar San Francisco opened the season on Monday Night. The defense picked up where they had left off, allowing just four completed passes. Harris ran for 100 yards and the Steelers won 27-0.

It set up another visitor from the Bay Area—a more hated one. Pittsburgh and the Oakland Raiders had met five previous times in the playoffs in this decade alone, including the past three AFC Championship Games. The Steelers were 3-2 in those games, but the Raiders were the defending Super Bowl champs. Pittsburgh had played the previous year’s playoff game without Harris or fullback Rocky Bleier. This was their chance to show the loss had been a fluke.

In today’s NFL world, this would probably be a Sunday Night Game. At the very least, in the late afternoon TV window. In the world of 1977, it was a 1 PM ET kickoff. And it showed that the 1977 Pittsburgh Steelers might not be what their recent predecessors had been.

Bradshaw was intercepted three times. He was sacked five times. A 16-7 home loss showed that there was going to be no immediate re-establishment of the old guard.

The Steelers went on the face mediocre Cleveland. Trailing 14-7 in the second quarter, Bradshaw hit Frank Lewis on a 65-yard TD strike. Terry went on top again, 14 yards to Swann in the third quarter. With a 218-80 edge in rush yardage, Pittsburgh pulled away to win, 28-14.

A road trip to Houston showed that the Oilers were an up-and-coming contender in the old AFC Central Division that they shared with the Steelers, Browns and Cincinnati Bengals. Pittsburgh turned the football over nine times and lost 27-10.

The Steelers and Bengals had gone to the wire for the division title the previous season and would do so again this year. Cincinnati came in to old Three Rivers Stadium for Monday Night Football. Playing in 18mph winds, the Pittsburgh D picked off four passes and chiseled out a 20-14 win. Then they got a revenge home win over Houston 27-10 behind a 16/24 for 227 yards performance from Bradshaw.

A late Sunday afternoon home visit to the Baltimore Colts was up next. The Colts were a consistent contender, but one the Steelers had usually handled—like the previous year’s 40-14 blowout in the playoffs in Baltimore. This one went down differently. Pittsburgh committed 17 penalties and Bradshaw threw five interceptions. They trailed 24-0 in the third quarter before making the final score a cosmetically respectable 31-21.

Another big road game was up in Denver where the Broncos were emerging as a legitimate contender for the first time in their short history. The Steelers again dug a huge hole, this time 21-0. Bradshaw was sacked six times by Denver’s “Orange Crush” defense. The final was 21-7.

At 4-4, Pittsburgh needed to stop the bleeding when Cleveland came into Three Rivers. The big-play passing attack was ginned up. Bradshaw was 13/21 and those 13 completions went for 283 yards. Swann and Stallworth each had 120-plus yards receiving. This time it was the Steelers getting the big lead, 35-10, before hanging on to win 35-31.

It was time for another big game. The Dallas Cowboys, another one of this decade’s outstanding teams and on their way to a Super Bowl title in 1977, were coming in for a late Sunday afternoon kick. The game was tight at halftime, with Pittsburgh’s 14-13 lead coming to thanks to a missed extra point from Dallas.

But the Steelers were pounding the football. Harris rolled up 179 yards on the ground. Bradshaw found Stallworth on a 28-yard touchdown pass. In their best performance of the season, Pittsburgh won it 28-13.

The AFC Central was very balanced, but no one stood out. That was enough for Pittsburgh’s 6-4 record to still be tied with Cleveland at the top. Houston and Cincinnati were both 5-5. It was anyone’s race to take in these final four weeks.

The Steelers went to old Shea Stadium in New York to play the lowly New York Jets. Pittsburgh did not play well, giving up over 200 yards on the ground. But five interceptions, two from free safety Glen Edwards, were enough to get out of Queens with a 23-20 win. In the meantime, the Bengals lost, while the Browns and Oilers won. Pittsburgh was 7-4 and the field was chasing at 6-5.

Another bad opponent, the Seattle Seahawks in their second year of existence, came to Three Rivers. The Steelers again played less than inspired football and were in a 13-13 tie after three quarters. But Bradshaw’s 22-yard TD pass to Swann triggered a fourth quarter outburst and Pittsburgh won 30-20. Good news came from elsewhere in the league—while Cincinnati kept the pressure on, Cleveland and Houston both lost, falling two games back.

What the Steelers did not have was the tiebreaker on Cincinnati—at least if they lost their second game to the Bengals. That made an early Saturday afternoon game between the two teams seem like a de facto winner-take-all battle.

In a game where the temperature was (-17) with the wind chill, Bradshaw threw an early Pick-6. Even though Terry turned it around and went 20/39 for 246 yards, the defense was not playing well and allowed over 300 passing yards. Pittsburgh lost 17-10. They were 8-5. So was Cincinnati. The tiebreaker was gone. There was only one wild-card available and Denver and Oakland, jousting in the AFC West, had a stranglehold on that. It was all but over.

But not so fast. Cincinnati still had to go Houston, a game that was far from a sure thing. Pittsburgh was closing the season at mediocre San Diego. Steeler fans were able to watch with delight in the early TV window on the final Sunday, as the Oilers knocked off the Bengals 21-16.

Pittsburgh again had control of their fate. They spent the first half in San Diego showing that this team wasn’t what previous editions of the Steel Curtain had been, falling behind 9-0. They spent the second half showing that whatever their flaws, they were still the Steelers, pulling out a 10-9 win and crawling back into the postseason.

For the second straight year, Pittsburgh was the 3-seed. Last year, they were highly regarded enough to be a road favorite in both of their playoff games. This year, as they went to Denver, they were a modest two-point underdog.

In the late afternoon on Christmas Eve, two franchises that have since developed a nice playoff history, met for the first time in postseason play. For three quarters, they traded blows and the game was tied 21-21. But Bradshaw’s play was pedestrian, 19/37 for 177 yards and three picks. The Steelers committed ten penalties. They only forced one turnover of their own. The fourth quarter got away and ended with a  34-21 loss.

1977 was still a good year by any reasonable measurement. It was still the sixth straight year in the playoffs and the fifth AFC Central crown in that timeframe. But it wasn’t what Pittsburgh Steelers fans had gotten used to. Not to worry though. In 1978, Pittsburgh regrouped and won another Super Bowl. In 1979, they did it again. The 1977 regression was just a blip on the radar.

1977 Dallas Cowboys: Tom Landry Gets Another Ring

, , , , ,

Tom Landry had been consistently producing one of the NFL’s best teams going back to 1966. He had reached three Super Bowls and won one in 1971. The 1977 Dallas Cowboys were his best team and gave the legendary coach a second Super Bowl ring.

Roger Staubach was 35-years-old, but the future Hall of Fame quarterback was still playing at a Pro Bowl level. He posted an 18/9 TD-INT ratio, completing 58 percent of his passes and 7.3 yards-per-attempt. While those numbers don’t stand out in our modern era, in the more defense-friendly world of 1977, they were near the top of the league.

Staubach’s favorite target was All-Pro wide receiver Drew Pearson, who caught 48 passes for better than 18 yards a pop. Preston Pearson (no relation) was a reliable pass-catcher out of the backfield, with 46 receptions. Billy Joe DuPree was a good tight end.

But Dallas had thrown the ball well in 1976, but it was the lack of a consistent running game that kept them out of the Super Bowl. The front office made a big move by trading up in the draft and selecting Heisman Trophy-winning running back Tony Dorsett. It was a trade that paid off in spades. Dorsett ran for over 1,000 yards, averaging almost five yards a pop and began a Hall of Fame career.

Dorsett got reliable help from Robert Newhouse, who ran for over 700 yards. What makes each back’s performance even more impressive is that no one on the Dallas offensive line had a Pro Bowl year. Herb Scott at guard and Pat Donovan at tackle were both 24-years-old and starting to emerge, but it was the skill position talent that ultimately fueled the Cowboy offense to be the second-best in the NFL.

Harvey Martin had a dominating year at defensive end. His 20 sacks—a statistic compiled in retrospect, as they weren’t formally counted until 1982—got him Defensive Player of the Year honors.

Martin was joined on the defensive front by Pro Bowl tackle Randy White, who picked up 12 ½ sacks of his own. The secondary had hard-hitting Pro Bowl strong safety Charlie Waters. And free safety Cliff Harris intercepted five passes and was chosen for 1st-team All-Pro. The Dallas defense as a whole ranked eighth in the league for points allowed.

The season opened with a big battle against the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikes had won three of the last four NFC titles, including in ’76. The Dallas defense went on the road and stepped up. They intercepted Fran Tarkenton three times, including two by Harris. They forced five turnovers overall. Playing in a September rain, the Cowboys went to overtime and won 16-10.

Dallas came home for some lighter fare against bad teams in the New York Giants and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Cowboys forced five more turnovers against the Giants. Staubach went 18/29 for 235 yards. It was 28-0 by the second quarter and ended 41-21. Against the Buccaneers, linebacker Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson got the party started with a 79-yard Pick-6. Dallas outrushed Tampa 205-76, Staubach played well, and the result was a 23-7 win.

Riding high at 3-0, the Cowboys got set for games with the St. Louis Cardinals and Washington Redskins. In the divisional alignment of the era, the Cardinals were in the NFC East. Moreover, both the Cards and Redskins were prime contenders in the division race.

Dallas trailed 24-16 in St. Louis after three quarters. In the era before the two-point conversion, this was a two-score deficit. But Dorsett was having the best game of his young career. He rolled up 141 yards on 14 carries and a touchdown run cut the margin to 24-23. Staubach then threw a TD pass to Golden Richards to win it, 30-24.

In a late afternoon home date with the Redskins, the Cowboys trailed 16-14 at the half. Kicker Efren Herrera came through with a couple of long field goals in the third quarter to get the lead. The Dallas defense was shutting down Washington’s running game. In the fourth quarter, the game broke open. Staubach threw a 59-yard TD strike to Drew Pearson and the Cowboys won 34-16.

The run of NFC East opponents continued with a trip to mediocre Philadelphia. A ten-point favorite, the Cowboys might have had an emotional letdown after the Cardinal and Redskin wins. Staubach was sacked five times and the offense struggled. But the defense played well and forced three turnovers. Waters blocked a punt for a touchdown. Dallas got out of town with a 16-10 win.

The lull continued for at least a quarter against the mediocre Detroit Lions at home. It was in the second quarter, leading 3-0, that the Cowboys snapped back to life. Staubach threw touchdown passes to DuPree and running back Scott Laidlaw. It was 23-0 by halftime and ended in a 37-0 whitewash.

Dallas was 7-0 and halfway through what was then still a 14-game regular season schedule. The road trip to New York was a little sluggish. The Cowboys didn’t run the ball well. But they didn’t turn it over, they played dominant defense, and the special teams produced a touchdown. The result was a 24-10 win.

St. Louis came in for a Monday Night Football appearance. The Cardinals were at least in contention for what was then a single wild-card berth, and still hoping to get back in the division race. The Cowboys led 17-10 in the fourth quarter. But they gave up two TD passes to the potent St. Louis passing game, led by Jim Hart. A 24-17 loss ended the undefeated season.

And the road didn’t exactly get easier with a late Sunday afternoon road date in Pittsburgh. The Steelers, the NFL’s dominant franchise of the 1970s, weren’t having a vintage year. But all struggles are relative and this was still a team that would ultimately make the playoffs and was playing desperate here in the latter part of November. Dallas led 13-7, but their rush defense got pummeled to the tune of 264 yards. The game went awry and ended in a 28-13 loss.

The two-game losing streak had tightened the NFC East. Dallas was 8-2, with St. Louis giving chase at 7-3, and Washington at 6-4. Another late Sunday afternoon game, this one with the Redskins, now loomed exceptionally large.

Dallas trailed 7-0 at the half on a day where windy conditions made passing difficult. But the defense locked in. Staubach threw a short TD pass to Richards that tied it in the third quarter. A touchdown run from Dorsett in the fourth quarter won it 14-7. The Cardinals also lost. The division race wasn’t over, but at 9-2, the Cowboys had a two-game lead with three weeks to go.

They were also well-situated to earn the top seed in the NFC. The Los Angeles Rams were at 8-3. While the tiebreaker situation wasn’t locked in, it was at least favorable to Dallas. Minnesota was 7-4, but with a head-to-head win in hand, the Cowboys were close to at least wrapping up the 2-seed.

Dallas took care of the latter at home against Philadelphia. Leading 17-14 after three quarters, Dorsett took off on an 84-yard touchdown run. The rookie went off for 206 yards and keyed a massive 268-72 edge on the ground. The 24-14 win ensured that at least the divisional round playoff game would be at home.

A Monday Night visit to San Francisco offered the chance to secure the 1-seed. The 49ers were not a good team, but they engaged the Cowboys in a back-and-forth shootout. Staubach went 14/19 for 220 yards and made no mistakes. In a 7-7 tie, he threw a 36-yard TD pass to Preston Pearson. At 14-14, Staubach hit Dorsett on a 20-yard scoring toss. With a 28-21 lead, Staubach found Butch Johnson from 22 yards out. A 42-35 win ensured the road to the Super Bowl was coming through Dallas.

Over in the AFC, the Denver Broncos had also secured homefield advantage. A potential high-profile season finale between the Cowboys and Broncos was now a little tuneup for the playoffs. Dallas won 14-6 and closed out a stellar 12-2 regular season.

The playoff journey began on the day after Christmas with an early afternoon kickoff against the Chicago Bears. The Cowboys were a hefty (-11) favorite. A short touchdown run by backup running back Doug Dennison gave them an early 7-0 lead. In the second quarter, Staubach threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to DuPree. A field goal made it 17-0 at the half.

Getting a lead helped take Chicago’s MVP running back, Walter Payton, out of the game. Payton was held to 60 yards on 19 carries. Dorsett and Newhouse shared the load in a balanced attack that produced a 233-81 rush yardage edge. But the real story was turnovers. Waters intercepted three passes. Dallas turned Chicago over seven times in total. A pair of Dorsett touchdowns made the score 34-0 by the end of the third quarter and it ended 37-7.

Minnesota upset Los Angeles in a mud-drenched game later that day, so it was the Vikings who came to Big D for the NFC Championship Game. It was a great time for football in the Lone Star State. Dallas was a double-digit favorite in this New Year’s Day game. The following day, the top-ranked Texas Longhorns were playing for the national championship in the Cotton Bowl.

Staubach tossed a 32-yard touchdown pass to Richards in the first quarter. A missed PAT kept it 6-0. Newhouse ran in from five yards out to make it 13-0 in the second quarter. The Vikings launched a couple of drives, but red-zone stops from the Cowboys forced field goal attempts. Dallas countered with a drive of their own that ended in a short field goal, and it was back to 16-6 by the half.

Minnesota was playing without Hall of Fame quarterback Fran Tarkenton, and it was left to Bob Lee to try and rally the team in the second half. But Dallas was stuffing the Viking running game, while getting another balanced effort from Dorsett and Newhouse. They forced four turnovers. A scoreless third quarter passed, before an 11-yard touchdown run from Dorsett in the final period secured the 23-6 win.

Even though the University of Texas would fall apart the next day, the great football fans of Dallas were still going to the Super Bowl.

Denver had held serve in the AFC, setting up a big storyline. Craig Morton, the veteran Bronco quarterback, had taken the Cowboys to the Super Bowl in 1970, before being displaced by Staubach a year later. While the ensuing years could have left no serious person in doubt that Staubach was substantially better, this was still a big revenge opportunity for Morton.

This was also the first Super Bowl ever played at the New Orleans Superdome. While the city itself had hosted this game—including in ’71, when the Cowboys won at Tulane Stadium—it was the first time in a modern venue that would see more than its share of memorable Super Bowl moments in the years to come.

Dallas was a (-6) favorite, and their defense was peaking in the postseason. That would become even more apparent today. The Cowboys grabbed a 10-0 lead behind a short touchdown run from Dorsett, along with a field goal. Another field goal in the second quarter made it 13-0 at the half.

In the meantime, the Cowboy defensive front was making life miserable for Morton. Martin and White spent the late afternoon and early evening in the Bronco backfield. The result was a deluge of turnovers—eight in all, a Super Bowl record to that point.

Denver got a field goal in the third quarter. Dallas responded when Butch Johnson made a spectacular catch of a 45-yard touchdown pass from Staubach. Johnson’s outstretched catch left him with broken ribs. The Broncos finally got in the end zone to make it 20-10.

In the fourth quarter, Dallas was driving again and looking to put this one to bed. Landry dialed up some trickery. Newhouse got the handoff and threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Richards, who made a nice over-the-shoulder grab himself. It was 27-10, and that was where it ended. The Cowboys were champs. For the first–and thus far only–time in Super Bowl history, game MVP honors were shared. Martin and White were co-MVPs for the dominance of the line of scrimmage.

Dallas made a noble bid at a repeat title in 1978, getting back to the Super Bowl. But they lost a classic game to Pittsburgh. While they continued to contend in the ensuing years, changes came. Staubach retired after 1979. Three straight trips to the NFC Championship Game from 1980-82 ended in losses. A late collapse in 1983 resulted in an early playoff exit.

It wasn’t until 1992, when Jimmy Johnson was in charge, that Dallas again hoisted the Super Bowl trophy—ironically, by setting a new record for forced turnovers, when they collected nine from the Buffalo Bills.

1977 New England Patriots: A Late Playoff Bid Comes Up Short

, , , , , , ,

After coming off a breakout year that saw them make the playoffs and come within one questionable call of advancing, the 1977 New England Patriots had high expectations. They just took too long to get started, with a late surge coming up short in an era when only four teams per conference made the playoffs.

GREAT 1980s SPORTS MOMENTS
Start reading today. 

Head coach Chuck Fairbanks built his offense around the running game, with 1,000-yard rusher Sam Cunningham leading the way and Don Calhoun’s 700-plus yards providing support. Steve Grogan, the 24-year-old quarterback completed 52% of his passes, above the league norm and believe it or not, his 17/21 TD-INT ratio was better than the NFL average (14/20) in 1977. And Grogan brought some big-play capability, a 7.1 yards-per-attempt nearly two yards better than the league standard.

Cunningham led the team in receptions out of the backfield, but the downfield game was improved on the previous year. Stanley Morgan averaged 21 yards-per-catch, and Darryl Stingley began to come into his own, with 39 catches and 657 yards receiving. Russ Francis was a Pro Bowler at tight end.

In spite of this, New England’s offense dropped from second in the NFL in 1976 to ninth in 1977. Andy Johnson was missing from the three-headed backfield that spearheaded the team’s 11-3 season of a year earlier, but more than that, the play on the offensive line took a step back. This would be one of the few years were the great left guard John Hannah missed the Pro Bowl, as did talented left tackle Leon Gray.

The defense wasn’t loaded with talent, but they had a terrific lockdown corner in Pro Bowler Mike Haynes, who also excelled as a return man. The Patriots defense also ranked ninth in the league.

SLOW OUT OF THE GATE

New England opened the season at home against a terrible Kansas City Chiefs team and promptly dug themselves a 14-0 hole. Stingley stepped up with two touchdowns, one a 34-yard run and another the more conventional route, a 21-yard pass from Grogan. Cunningham and Calhoun combined for 186 yards on the ground in a 21-17 win.

The shaky game against a bad opponent foreshadowed trouble though. The Patriots went to Cleveland for a Monday Night game. The Browns had competed for a playoff berth to the bitter end in 1976, although they would slip under .500 this season. The Patriots jumped ahead 17-7, but tonight it was the opponent who controlled the ground game.

Greg Pruitt ran over the Pats for 151 yards and New England lost 30-27 in overtime. The following week at old Shea Stadium against the Jets—who were starting a 3-11 season—New England’s rush defense was better, but they still couldn’t’ run it themselves. Grogan threw three interceptions, they lost two more fumbles and suffered another 30-27 loss.

GAINING MOMENTUM

The Seattle Seahawks were only in their second year of existence at a time and their visit to Foxboro was just what the doctor ordered. New England held Seattle to six first downs, picked off quarterback Steve Myer four times—two by Haynes—and coasted to a 31-0 win. The Patriots then went west to San Diego and got 256 yards rushing, 141 from Cunningham. Control of the trenches was enough for a 24-20 win.

A year earlier, New England and the Baltimore Colts had battled to the end for the AFC East title, and the Colts were again playing well. In a late afternoon start at Foxboro, the Patriot defense played its best game of the season. They held Colt quarterback Bert Jones—the reigning MVP—to 6/18 for 64 yards. Grogan was 11/16 for 214 yards and no interceptions, doing most of his damage with Stingley in a 17-13 win.

Grogan and Stingley continued to click in the rematch with the Jets. Grogan was 16/23 for 228 yards and three touchdowns, with Stingley catching eight of those passes for 116 yards. The result was a 24-13 win and with a 5-2 record, the Patriots were back on track.

SETBACKS

Then they went off the rails again. Buffalo was in middle of a lousy season, but came into New England and picked off Grogan four times. One of them was a Pick-6 in the third quarter at a time the Patriot deficit was still a manageable 17-7. The final was 24-14. Grogan then went to Miami were he had a hard time getting the ball downfield consistently. The running game was quiet and the Patriots lost 17-5 to the Dolphins.

The prognosis was not promising for New England’s playoff hopes. At 5-4, they were three games back of Baltimore, whose only loss had come in Foxboro. Miami was in between at 7-2. There was only one wild-card spot open and with the Denver Broncos and Oakland Raiders each having big seasons in the AFC West, that avenue didn’t look much better.

DESPERATE PUSH

Cunningham took over the following week at Buffalo. The Patriots trailed 7-6 in the third quarter, when Cunningham rumbled 31 yards for one touchdown and then scored from a yard out. The ultimate rush edge was 256-112 and Grogan’s 81 yards was actually best on the team in a 20-7 win. Miami lost at Cincinnati to give New England a glimmer of hope.

Grogan came out firing at home against a subpar Philadelphia Eagles team on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. He went 64 yards to Morgan in the first quarter and then 16 yards to Stingley in the second quarter, putting the Patriots up 14-0 and the defense took it over from there in a 14-6 win. Baltimore lost at Denver and the AFC East race again modestly tightened.

A visit to mediocre Atlanta almost undercut the momentum. New England trailed 10-9 in the fourth quarter before Grogan found Morgan on a 33-yard touchdown pass. The ultimate reason for a 16-10 win was a defense that picked off Falcon quarterback Steve Bartkowski four times, two coming from Haynes.

Elsewhere in the AFC East, there was a big Colts-Dolphins battle going down and New England got what they needed. Miami won. The Patriots 8-4 record now had them just a game back of the two teams they were chasing and the Dolphins were coming to Foxboro.

New England’s rush defense was simply dominant, holding to Miami to 25 yards on the ground. The Patriots got early running touchdowns from Ike Forte and Cunningham. With the lead and the defense playing well, Grogan only threw ten passes and the Pats salted away a 14-10 win.

They still needed more breaks and got a big one when Baltimore lost at home to the mediocre Detroit Lions. Suddenly, against all odds, New England was in a three-way tie for first entering the final week of the season when they would play Baltimore head-to-head.

The problem was that the Patriots were faring poorly in tiebreakers. The losses to the Bills and Jets meant that New England had an inferior division record to Miami. While the Pats could take care of the Colts themselves, they needed the Dolphins to lose. The losses to bad AFC teams also meant New England had no chance to catch Oakland, who was 10-3, for the wild-card. The Raiders won in any case.

New England knew their fate by the time they took the field in old Memorial Stadium. Miami had played on Saturday and beaten Buffalo. The Patriots were eliminated.

They could still play spoiler, as the Colts had the tiebreaker edge on the Dolphins and were playing for the AFC East title. New England jumped out to a 21-3 lead in the third quarter, but the pass defense came apart. Jones carved them up for 340 yards, never threw an interception and rallied Baltimore to a 30-24 win.

Missing the playoffs was a disappointment, although by the standards of today, the Patriots would have been the 6-seed. The good news was this—the franchise still had a season that just two years earlier would have been considered wildly successful, and in 1978, they would climb to the top of the AFC East.

1977 Minnesota Vikings: A Division Title Amidst Decline

, , , , , , ,

The 1977 Minnesota Vikings were a good team that won a division title, their ninth in ten years. They reached the NFC Championship Game. But there were also unmistakable signs of decline setting for the franchise that had been the NFC’s best from 1969-76, reaching four Super Bowls, including three of the past four.

GREAT 1980s SPORTS MOMENTS
Start reading today. 


Throughout most of the decade, it was customary to see the Vikings in the top ten—if not the top five—in the NFL in points scored. They were traditionally a top five defense. But in 1977, they ranked 16th in offense and 13th on defense.

The lineup was long on the tooth. Fran Tarkenton was now 37-years-old and his TD/INT ratio slipped to 9/14. The defensive line still had the names of three men who once drew the nickname “The Purple People Eaters.” But Carl Eller, Alan Page and 40-year-old Jim Marshall were no longer Pro Bowlers. Nor was Paul Krause, the 35-year-old safety. Other players for whom the clock was ticking included center Mick Tingelhoff at 37 and corner Bobby Bryant, age 33.

But lest we turn this into a funeral atmosphere, they could still play with savvy and the Vikings had a top running back in Chuck Foreman, who rolled for 1,112 yards. They had good receivers in Ahmad Rashad and Sammy White. The right side of the line had Pro Bowl talent in Ed White and Ron Yary—although Yary did lose the 1st-team All-Pro status that he had enjoyed since 1971, and 1977 would be his last year in the Pro Bowl.

Minnesota opened the season hosting the Dallas Cowboys, and it began with an erratic performance from Tarkenton, who went 13/32 for 182 yards and three interceptions. The game still went to overtime, but the Cowboys left town with a 16-10 win.

A rare early season Saturday night kickoff followed in Tampa Bay, where the expansion Buccaneers were a new team in Minnesota’s NFC Central Division (which otherwise had the four teams of today’s NFC North). It was an ugly game. Eller sacked Tampa quarterback Randy Hedberg for a safety and the defense forced Hedberg into a 4/14 for 51 yards and three interceptions night. But the Vikings only won 9-3.

The Green Bay Packers were a bad team at this time, and even after getting a 95-yard touchdown pass from Lynn Dickey to begin their game in Minnesota, the Vikings took over. They held Dickey to 48 yards passing the rest of the way and won 19-7. Another defensive game followed at home with Detroit. There was no running game, but Tarkenton’s two first-quarter touchdown passes to White were enough for a 14-7 win.

A fourth straight game with a division foe was next, and so was another hard-fought win. The Vikings led the Chicago Bears 13-0, then fell behind 16-13, then tied it with a field goal. Minnesota won in overtime, on a trick play, as Krause came in and threw a touchdown pass to tight end Stu Voigt.

Minnesota was 4-1 and had swept their NFC Central rivals. But the fact the games with the Packers, Lions and Bears were all at home and all close, was enough to cause concern. And that concern shot up with a humiliating Monday Night trip to Los Angeles. The Vikings gave up three first-half touchdown passes to the Rams’ Pat Haden and were crushed 35-3 by a traditional playoff team.

Another grinding win over an average team followed in Atlanta. After falling behind 7-0, Tarkenton connected with White on a 54-yard touchdown pass to key a 14-7 win. The next week though, the St. Louis Cardinals came to the Twin Cities and the rush defense collapsed. The Cardinals ran for 316 yards, and the offense didn’t score until St. Louis was ahead 27-0 in the fourth quarter.

Head coach Bud Grant got his team back on track against a decent Cincinnati Bengals team. The Vikings played their best game. Foreman ran for 133 yards. Tarkenton was razor-sharp, completing 17/18 passes for 195 yards in a 42-10 rout. But as though something was telling Minnesota that their time was running out, Tarkenton broke his leg. He was lost for the season.

The road trip to Chicago was next, and the Bears’ Walter Payton carried the ball 40 times and ran for 275 yards. It was a performance that probably won Payton the MVP award. Minnesota could only score on a blocked punt by Pro Bowl linebacker Matt Blair and they lost 10-7.

Minnesota was now 6-4, with Chicago and Detroit each in close pursuit at 5-5. This was essentially new territory. The Vikings had only sporadically had to face a challenge for the division title deep into November. Now they had competition.

Bob Lee was the quarterback at Green Bay the next week at Green Bay, but it was the defense and Foreman’s 101 rush yards that keyed a 13-6 win. Perhaps that’s why Grant was ready to pull Lee when the Vikings dug a 24-0 hole for themselves at home the next week against the San Francisco 49ers. Enter Tommy Kramer.

Kramer would eventually become the starting quarterback and the 23-year-old delivered an electric performance. He completed 9/13 passes for 188 yards. Kramer threw three fourth-quarter touchdown passes to three different receivers and led a stunning 28-27 comeback win.

He lost the job the next week after digging a big hole in a 35-13 loss to the defending Super Bowl champion Oakland Raiders, but that was a game the Vikings would probably have lost on the road no matter what, even had Tarkenton been healthy. Kramer’s heroics against San Francisco meant that Minnesota controlled their own destiny going into the final week of the season.

The Vikings were 8-5, as were the Bears. Detroit had faded, and Minnesota held the tiebreaker. There was no guarantee of a wild-card fallback, as only one such berth existed at this time, and the Washington Redskins were also 8-5.

Minnesota played their season finale on Saturday in Detroit. Lee was the starter and he played well, completing 11/16 for 206 yards, and not making any mistakes. The Vikings took a 24-7 lead and even though they allowed a pair of special teams touchdowns, on two long returns by Eddie Payton, Minnesota was never in danger of losing. They won 30-21 and secured another NFC Central—and the win was needed, because Chicago and Washington both won on Sunday.

The Vikings were the #3 seed in the four-team NFC bracket and they traveled to Los Angeles to rematch with the Rams. A torrential downpour engulfed the LA area and the Coliseum was tracked with mud. Foreman ran for over 100 yards, as did Ram running back Lawrence McCutcheon. Lee played extremely conservative, going 5/10 for 57 yards, but not throwing any interceptions.

It was the Rams who made the mistakes. Minnesota got out to a 7-0 lead, and were up 14-0 in the fourth quarter because Haden threw two interceptions, and Los Angeles missed a field goal. The Rams finally did score with a minute left and then recovered the onside kick. Haden threw one more pass into the end zone…and one more interception, as Jeff Wright picked it off to secure the win for the Vikings.

The run ended on New Year’s Day in Dallas. The Cowboys were just too dominant this season. The Vikings had to play a perfect game under any circumstances, and they lost three fumbles. The balanced Dallas running attack of Robert Newhouse and Tony Dorsett keyed an easy 23-6 win.

Even with the loss, and even with the end of the Minnesota Vikings’ run as the top team in the NFC, they still showed they could survive a tough division race and still win playoff games. But the end was clearly coming.

Walter Payton Carries The 1977 Chicago Bears To A Long-Awaited Playoff Berth

, , , , , ,

The Chicago Bears won the NFL championship in 1963, but then drifted into obscurity. The Super Bowl era began three years later and from 1966-76, the Bears failed to qualify for the postseason. After going 4-10 in 1974, the team hired a new head coach in Jack Pardee. The record stayed 4-10 in ’75, but jumped to 7-7 a year later and the 1977 Chicago Bears made the next jump and got that elusive playoff berth.

GREAT 1980s SPORTS MOMENTS
Start reading today. 


Chicago was led by running back Walter Payton, the dynamic 24-year old running back who rolled up 1,852 yards in what was still a 14-game schedule (the league went to 16 games in 1978). Payton won the MVP award as he carried an offense that ranked 13th in the NFL in points scored.

Bob Avellini was at quarterback, also 24-years-old and while he was erratic—18 interceptions—his 2,000-plus yards were pretty decent by the standards of the time. It wasn’t until a year later that the league tightened restrictions on defensive backs, so throwing the football still wasn’t easy in the world of 1977. James Scott was the top receiver, pulling in 50 catches for 809 yards.

The Bears had a young offensive line, with every starter between the ages of 23-26 and Pro Bowl corner Allan Ellis led the defense with six interceptions. Ellis was the only Pro Bowler on a unit that ranked 19th in points allowed, but both safeties—23-year-old Gary Fencik along with Doug Plank—each picked off four passes.

Pardee’s team opened the season with two mediocre opponents, a home game with the Detroit Lions and on the road against the St. Louis Cardinals. The Bears split those two games, and then a home date with the New Orleans Saints illustrated a problem that would bedevil the team all year long—poor performances against a bad teams. The Saints would only win three games in 1977, but their 42-24 thrashing of Chicago in Soldier Field was one of them.

Even more mystifying is that eight days after this embarrassment, Chicago played one of its best games for a national TV audience. They hosted the Los Angeles Rams, a consistent contender in the NFC throughout the 1970s on Monday Night Football, then the only prime-time game of the week in the NFL. Payton ran for 126 yards, the defense picked off Rams quarterback Pat Haden four times and Chicago won 24-23.

A tough loss at Minnesota followed. The Vikings were the pre-eminent power in the NFC Central (the current teams of the NFC North plus second-year franchise Tampa Bay) and had a 13-0 lead. Chicago, with Payton rushing for 122 yards, rallied to take a 16-13 lead. But Minnesota’s Chuck Foreman ran for 150, and the Vikings first tied the game with a field goal and then won in overtime.

The Bears beat Atlanta and shut out a bad Green Bay team to get their record to 4-3 and give the fan base some real hope. Just as quickly, they went on the road to play the Houston Oilers and turned in a performance that made the earlier game with New Orleans look Super Bowl-caliber by comparison.

We need to preface this by saying that even though the Oilers were a decent team, en route to 8-6, they did not yet have running back Earl Campbell, who dominated the league in the latter part of this decade. Campbell was still in his senior year at Texas, winning the Heisman Trophy.

It was Houston quarterback Dan Pastorini who authored a shocking 47-0 embarrassment. Avellini and backup quarterback Mike Phipps combined to throw for 26 yards—suffice it to say, even by the standards of the time, this was an embarrassment.

The season almost got away at home one week later against the Kansas City Chiefs, a team on their way to a 2-12 finish. The Chiefs led 27-21 in the fourth quarter, but Avellini bailed the Bears out when he hit tight end Greg Latta on a fourth-quarter touchdown pass and ensured Payton’s 192 rush yards didn’t go to waste.

With the record at 5-4, there was little margin of error at a time when the playoffs only consisted of four teams—there was one wild-card slot available in a three-divisional conference structure. Minnesota came to town on November 20.

Payton likely won the MVP award on this day. His number was called 40 times, and running against a good defensive unit, Payton produced 275 yards on the ground. The defense played its own best game of the year and the Vikings got their only points when a blocked punt was taken in for a touchdown. Chicago won 10-7 and kept their hopes—for both the Central title and the wild-card spot—alive.

Thanksgiving Day in Detroit is never easy for a visiting team. Chicago fell behind early, but then Avellini led an avalanche in the second half. The quarterback finished 14/21 for 260 yards with two touchdown passes. The Bears won 31-14 and now had some momentum and ten days to rest up for the final push.

The oddities of the schedule meant Chicago only played Tampa Bay one time, and it wouldn’t have been the Bears if this game against a lousy team wasn’t a little uncomfortable. Chicago did survive 10-0, holding Buccaneer quarterback Randy Hedberg to 21 passing yards. A week later, the Bears beat the Packers 21-10. And when the Vikes lost to the Oakland Raiders, the NFC Central was a dead heat at 8-5.

With one game to go, the Bears were in a three-way fight, with the Washington Redskins also at 8-5. Chicago needed Minnesota to lose if they were to claim the NFC Central. But the Bears controlled their destiny over the Redskins for the wild-card spot.

Chicago was playing on the road against the New York Giants for the season finale. The Giants were a bad team at this time, although by this point, everyone in the Windy City knew not to take that seriously. The Saturday of Week 14 saw Minnesota and Washington each play on Saturday. Both teams won, so the Bears knew the stakes when they took the field—they were playing for the wild-card and it was win or go home.

The sleet pounded the Meadowlands and the Giants’ runners—Larry Csonka and Doug Kotar—handled it better than Payton. New York got 253 yards on the ground, while Payton was held to 47 yards. But neither team could get in the end zone. It was a field goal war and it went to overtime tied 9-9. Finally, the Bears got in position for Bob Thomas to try a game-winner and he connected. At long last, the Bears were going to the postseason.

Chicago’s reward for their effort was a trip to face the Dallas Cowboys, the #1 seed who had dominated defensively all year long. Minnesota upset the Los Angeles in the other NFC divisional playoff game, so the Bears took the field knowing they could create an all-NFC Central championship game in the Twin Cities. But the Cowboys were too good. Tony Dorsett and Robert Newhouse piled up the rush yards, Payton was held to 60 yards and Dallas cruised to a 37-7 win.

Pardee’s team had every reason to hang their head high though. Dallas turned the entire playoffs into a demolition, so Chicago had plenty of company. And after eleven years of irrelevance in the Super Bowl era, Chicago had gotten its biggest victory by finally making the postseason party.