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| Bears running back Walter Payton carried the ball 33 times for 192 yards and scored three touchdowns. |
For the 1977 Chicago Bears, that game would come in week 9 of the season when they hosted the Kansas City Chiefs at Soldier Field.
The Bears entered the game with a 3-5 record and were coming off an embarrassing 47-0 loss to the Houston Oilers the week before.
The Bears didn't have much going for them except for running back Walter Payton, who had run for 1,390 yards and 13 touchdowns during a 7-7 season in 1976 and was just a handful of yards of becoming the first running back in Bears history to run for back-to-back 1,000 yard seasons.
Payton was essentially the only reason to watch the Bears as the team had not been to the playoffs since winning the 1963 NFL championship and had not recorded a winning season since 1967.
While things had been sour for the Bears for about a decade, the Kansas City Chiefs were beginning to enter some dark times as well as they were removed from the glory days of the late '60s and early '70s with head coach Hank Stram, quarterback Len Dawson, and linebacker Bobby Bell, which had helped the Chiefs to three AFL titles and a Super Bowl championship following the 1969 season.
The Chiefs had had three straight 5-9 seasons and entered the Bears game with a 2-6 record, having just fired head coach Paul Wiggin after a 1-6 start and replaced him with Tom Bettis, who had led the Chiefs to a 20-10 win over the Green Bay Packers the week before.
The Chiefs traveled to Chicago on a cold, windy day looking for their second straight win while the Bears were hoping to win to keep their slim playoff hopes alive.
Following a 22-yard return by Larry Brunson on the opening kickoff, the Chiefs began their first drive at their 40-yard-line and quickly drove to the Chicago seven-yard-line as quarterback Mike Livingston completed his first three passes for 34 yards on the drive.
From the seven-yard-line, Livingston handed the ball off to running back Ed Podolak three straight times for six yards, setting up a 4th & goal at the one-yard-line.
The Chiefs decided to go for the touchdown and got it as Livingston ran into the end zone on a quarterback bootleg to give Kansas City a 7-0 lead with 9:28 left in the first quarter.
After the Bears went three-and-out on their opening possession, the Chiefs took over at their 34-yard-line where a 38-yard pass from Livingston to tight end Walter White help set up an one-yard touchdown run by Podolak to increase the Kansas City lead to 14-0 with 5:22 left in the first quarter.
The Chiefs were forced Chicago to punt on its ensuing possession to get the ball back at their 16-yard-line where they were on the move again as a 12-yard pass to Mark Bailey plus a 15-yard late hit penalty gave Kansas City a 1st down at their 42-yard-line.
But on the very next play from scrimmage, Bears cornerback Allan Ellis picked off a Livingston pass and returned it 11 yards to the Chicago 45-yard-line.
From there, Payton would carry the ball on the next three plays, picking up 41 yards to set up the Bears with a 1st & 10 at the Chiefs' 14-yard-line as the first quarter came to an end.
Four plays later, the Bears were faced with their own 4th & 1 situation from the one-yard-line where they decided to go for the touchdown.
But unlike the Chiefs, the Bears could not punch into the end zone as Payton was stopped for no gain to give the Chiefs the ball at their one-yard-line still leading 14-0.
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| Chiefs running back Ed Podolak carried the ball 29 times for 102 yards and scored two touchdowns. |
The Bears would get the ball back at the Kansas City 41-yard-line after forcing a Kansas City punt which was returned 19 yards by Steve Scubert.
The Bears would drive to the Chiefs' 21-yard-line before calling on Bob Thomas to kick a 39-yard field goal, only to have the kick bounce off the upright and no good to keep it 14-0 in favor of Kansas City.
Following an exchange of punts, the Chiefs got the ball at their 46-yard-line where they turned to Podolak to lead them down the field.
Podolak would catch a 19-yard pass from Livingston on the first play of the drive, then after Livingston lost a yard, Ed would run for 11 yards to give Kansas City a 1st down at the Bears' 25-yard-line.
However, the Bears defense would hold the Chiefs to a 37-yard field goal by Jan Stenerud which increased Kansas City's lead to 17-0 with just 72 seconds left in the first half.
Chicago would take over at its 30-yard-line, hoping to drive down and pick up some points before halftime.
Avellini, who had completed only one pass up to this point, found James Scott for 14 yards to begin the drive, then hit Brian Baschnagel for 25 yards to give the Bears a 1st down at the Kansas City 31-yard-line.
Then after two straight incomplete passes, Avellini found Greg Latta for 13 yards and another 1st down at the Chiefs' 18-yard-line.
But on the next play from scrimmage, Avellini would be picked off in the end zone by Chiefs free safety Gary Barbano, ending the Bears' scoring threat as the first half came to a close with Chicago down 17-0.
The Bears would get the second half kickoff and seemed to be given a spark as Baschnagel returned the kick 55 yards to the Kansas City 35-yard-line.
However after three straight running plays picked up only five yards, Baschnagel would go from hero to goat as he mishandled the snap on Thomas' 48-yard field goal attempt, leading to him being tackled by Lainer and giving the Chiefs the ball at their 40-yard-line.
Baschnagel would get a chance to atone for his mistake after the Chicago defense forced a three-and-out, leading to a Chiefs punt to which Baschnagel returned 42 yards to the Kansas City 31-yard-line.
Two plays later, the Bears were faced with a 3rd & 1 when Payton would put together what many consider the greatest run of his legendary career.
Payton took the handoff from Avellini and ran right, where he made a spin move at the 25-yard-line, then cut back to the middle and bounced away from five Chief tacklers before brought down at the four-yard-line for an amazing 18-yard run to give Chicago a 1st & goal at the four-yard-line.
After fullback Robin Earl ran for three yards on 1st down, Payton leaped over the Kansas City defense for an one-yard touchdown to put the Bears on the scoreboard as they now trailed 17-7 with approximately 9 1/2 minutes left in the third quarter.
The Chiefs would get the ball back at their 29-yard-line and proceeded to drive to the Bears' 38-yard-line until Podolak fumbled the football which was recovered by Chicago defensive end Billy Newsome at the Bears' 39-yard-line.
Two straight runs picked up 10 yards for the Bears until Payton fumbled the football which was recovered by Chiefs defensive end Whitney Paul at the 50-yard-line.
However, the Chiefs would give right back to the Bears when on 2nd & 10, Livingston threw his second interception of the game as Chicago strong safety Gary Fencik made the pick to give the Bears the ball back at their 40-yard-line.
From there, the Bears would drive to the Chiefs' 39-yard-line until Avellini uncorked a deep pass toward the end zone that was tipped by Kansas City cornerback Tim Collier and landed in the hands of Barbano for his second interception of the game.
Barbano would return the pick to the Chiefs' 17-yard-line only to have the Bears defense force a three-and-out to get the ball back at the Kansas City 45-yard-line with 2:16 left in the third quarter.
The Bears would drive to the KC 11-yard-line before calling on Thomas to attempt a 29-yard field goal, only to have Thomas' kick sail wide right and no good to keep it a 17-7 game in favor of the Chiefs with 14:09 left in the 4th quarter.
The Bears would be given great field position again after the Chiefs to punt where Schubert's 16-yard return set up shop for Chicago at their 46-yard-line.
From there, the Bears would drive 54 yards in 10 plays, with Payton carrying the ball on six of those plays for 24 yards, including the one-yard touchdown that brought the Bears to within a field goal at 17-14 midway through the 4th quarter.
With the wind in his face, Thomas squibbed the ensuing kickoff, giving the Chiefs the ball at their 44-yard-line.
From there, Livingston would hit Brunson for 10 yards to start the drive, then after an offsides penalty on the Bears, Livingston would find Podolak for 17 yards to give Kansas City a 1st down at the Bears' 24-yard-line.
Podolak would carry the ball the next two times, picking up 13 yards to give the Chiefs another 1st down at the Chicago 11-yard-line, when the Bears defense made two big plays in a row as they dropped Podolak for a 4-yard-loss on 1st down, which was followed by a quarterback sack by defensive tackle Jim Osbourne, dropping Livingston for a seven-yard loss and setting up 3rd & 21 at the Bears' 24-yard-line.
However, the Chiefs would get a 1st down when Fencik was called for pass interference as he knocked down wide reciever Henry Marshall at the 10-yard-line, giving the Chiefs a 1st & goal from the 10-yard-line.
Two runs by Podolak for six yards and an incomplete pass forced the Chiefs to call on Stenerud to kick a 21-yard field goal which he made to increase the Kansas City lead to 20-14 with 3:21 left in the game.
The Bears would get the ball back at their 31-yard-line, needing a touchdown to take the lead, only to have Avellini threw two straight incomplete passes to begin the drive.
On 3rd down, the Bears went back to Payton, who ran for eight yards but was hit late by Chiefs linebacker Thomas Howard, drawing a 15-yard penalty that was added to the run for a Chicago 1st down at the Kansas City 46-yard-line.
On the next play from scrimmage, Payton would make his only catch of the game, a 29-yard reception on a crossing route to put the Bears at the Chiefs' 17-yard-line.
Following an two-yard run by Earl, Payton took an handoff from Avellini, ran to his left and then cut back across the middle to run for a 15-yard touchdown that along with Thomas' extra point gave the Bears their first lead of the game at 21-20 with 2:02 to play.
Another short kickoff by Thomas gave the Chiefs great field position as they took over at their 44-yard-line with just under two minutes to go, needing only a field goal to win.
The drive began with a seven-yard pass from Livingston to White, followed by a five-yard run by Podolak, then a five-yard run by John Brockington.
Following an incomplete pass on 2nd & 5, Livingston found Podolak for eight yards to give the Chiefs a 1st down at the Chicago 31-yard-line.
Livingston would then hit White again for seven more yards before throwing another incomplete pass to set up 3rd & 3.
That is when Livingston handed the ball off to Brockington, who busted though for a 10-yard run to give the Chiefs a 1st down at the Bears' 14-yard-line.
Clearly in Stenerud's range, the Chiefs wanting to keep the ball on the ground and try to make the kick even easier for Stenerud
That got more that on the next play as Podolak took a sweep to the right side and ran it in to the end zone for a 14-yard touchdown to seemingly give the Chiefs a 27-21 win after Stenerud kicked the extra point with 24 seconds left.
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| Bears quarterback Bob Avellini only completed 11 of 23 passes for 193 yards but his last pass would save the Bears' season. |
It was going to take a miracle for the Bears to pull out a victory, but they got a break on the kickoff when Stenerud squibbed it, allowing for Baschnagel to return it to the Bears' 43-yard-line.
With the running game out of equation, it was going to be up to Avellini to try and get the Bears into the end zone.
On 1st down, Avellini dropped back and threw a pass over the middle to Earl, who ran to the Chiefs' 37-yard-line before stepping out of bounds with 10 seconds left.
That gave the Bears at least one maybe two shots at throwing a Hail Mary into the end zone.
As Avellini took the snap, he dropped back and fired a pass toward the left side of the field, where he found a wide open Latta in the end zone.
Latta made the catch for the touchdown to send the Soldier Field crowd into a frenzy as the Bears had tied at 27 with three seconds left.
Now it was up to Thomas to kick the extra point to give the Bears the lead.
Thomas would make the extra point to give Chicago a 28-27 lead with three seconds left.
Now it was the Chiefs' turn to try and pull off a miracle, but they could not handle the squib kick on the ensuing kickoff as Bears running back Johnny Musso recovered the kickoff as time expire as the Bears had come away with an incredible 28-27 victory.
The Chiefs would not win a game for the rest of the season as they finished with a 2-12 record, the team's worst record in franchise history.
Bettis would not return in head coach as Marv Levy would take over the reins in Kansas City for the 1978 season.
Levy and John Makovic plus Frank Gansz would combine to lead the Chiefs to just two winning seasons and one playoff appearance over the next 11 seasons until Marty Schottenheimmer arrived in 1989 and finally brought the Chiefs back to their winning ways.
As for the Bears, they would follow up the win over the Chiefs with a 10-7 win over the Minnesota Vikings as Payton despite being hampered by the flu rushed for a then NFL record 275 yards as Chicago would go on to win their final six games of the regular season to finish the season with a 9-5 record and their first playoff berth since 1963 as Payton finished the season with a career best 1,852 rushing yards.
However in the playoffs, the Bears would be routed by the Dallas Cowboys 37-7 as Payton was held to just 60 yards then lost head coach Jack Pardee who left after the season to take over as the Washington Redskins' head coach.
For the next six years, the Bears would struggle through mediocrity as they made the playoffs only once in 1979 as Payton rushed closer to Jim Brown's all-time career NFL rushing yards record.
Payton would break the record during the 1984 season where the Bears won their first playoff game since the ' 63 title game, which was followed by their legendary 1985 season which ended with a Super Bowl title.
Payton retired after the 1987 season finishing with 16,726 yards, a record that stood until 2002 when Emmitt Smith past Payton.
For the highlights of the game, click on the video below:
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