1977 Chicago Bears season

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1977 Chicago Bears season
Head Coach Jack Pardee
Home Field Soldier Field
Results
Record 9-5
Place 2nd NFC Central
Playoff Finish L NFC Divisional
Timeline
Previous Season Next Season
1976 1978

The 1977 Chicago Bears season was their 58th regular season and 13th postseason completed in the National Football League. The club posted a 9-5 record earning them a wild card spot against the Dallas Cowboys, who eventually beat the Bears enroute to a Super Bowl victory.

Walter Payton was the star of the team as he led the entire NFL in rushing (1,852 yards), 275 of those 1,852 came on a November 20 game against their arch-rivals the Minnesota Vikings and he did it despite coming down with a flu and a dark rainy day at Soldier Field.

A week after the Dallas playoff loss, Coach Pardee stunned the team by resigning to take the head coaching position of the Washington Redskins (George Allen having been fired after the Redskins were eliminated from the playoffs by a Bears overtime victory over the New York Giants in the last game of the regular season).

Contents

[edit] Offseason

[edit] NFL Draft

[edit] Regular Season

[edit] Season Standings

NFC Central
Team W L T PCT PF PA
Minnesota Vikings 9 5 0 .643 231 227
Chicago Bears 9 5 0 .643 255 253
Detroit Lions 6 8 0 .429 183 252
Green Bay Packers 4 10 0 .286 134 219
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2 12 0 .143 103 223

[edit] Season Schedule

  • Week 1 Sep 18 W 30-20 vs Detroit Lions
  • Week 2 Sep 25 L 16-13 at St. Louis Cardinals
  • Week 3 Oct 2 L 42-24 vs New Orleans Saints
  • Week 4 Oct 10 W 24-23 vs Los Angeles Rams
  • Week 5 Oct 16 L 22-16 at Minnesota Vikings (OT)
  • Week 6 Oct 23 L 16-10 vs Atlanta Falcons
  • Week 7 Oct 30 W 26-0 at Green Bay Packers
  • Week 8 Nov 6 L 47-0 at Houston Oilers
  • Week 9 Nov 13 W 28-27 vs Kansas City Chiefs
  • Week 10 Nov 20 W 10-7 vs Minnesota Vikings
  • Week 11 Nov 24 W 31-14 at Detroit Lions
  • Week 12 Dec 4 W 10-0 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
  • Week 13 Dec 11 W 21-10 vs Green Bay Packers
  • Week 14 Dec 18 W 12-9 at New York Giants (OT)

[edit] Roster

[edit] Postseason

[edit] NFC Divisional Playoff

  • Dallas Cowboys 37, Chicago Bears 7
1 2 3 4 Total
Bears 0 0 0 7 7
Cowboys 7 10 17 3 37

at Texas Stadium, Irving, Texas

Safety Charlie Waters led the Cowboys to a 37-7 victory by setting an NFL playoff record of 3 interceptions. Dallas built a 17-0 halftime lead, with the aid of running back Doug Dennison's 2-yard touchdown run and quarterback Roger Staubach's 28-yard scoring pass to tight end Billy Joe Dupree. In the second half, running back Tony Dorsett recorded two rushing touchdowns and Efren Herrera added two more field goals. The Bears were limited to 224 total yards and did not score until the fourth quarter when the game was already out of reach.

[edit] Awards and records

  • Walter Payton, NFL MVP
  • Walter Payton, led NFL in rushing (1,852 yards)
  • Walter Payton, Pro Bowl Most Valuable Player
  • Walter Payton, Led NFL in Total Yards, (2,216)

[edit] Milestones

[edit] References

1977 NFL season
v  d  e
AFC East Central West NFC East Central West
Baltimore Cincinnati Denver Dallas Chicago Atlanta
Buffalo Cleveland Kansas City NY Giants Detroit Los Angeles
Miami Houston Oakland Philadelphia Green Bay New Orleans
New England Pittsburgh San Diego St. Louis Minnesota San Francisco
NY Jets Seattle Washington Tampa Bay
1977 NFL DraftNFL PlayoffsPro BowlSuper Bowl XII