1977 Kansas City Chiefs season

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The 1977 Kansas City Chiefs season was the worst in franchise history^[1] with the Chiefs winning only two of fourteen games. Head coach Paul Wiggin was fired following a 44-7 loss to Cleveland in week seven. Tom Bettis took over as interim head coach for the rest of the season.

[edit] Off-season

[edit] 1977 NFL Draft

Main article: 1977 NFL Draft

[edit] Regular season

An 0-5 start doomed the squad with a 44-7 loss at Cleveland (10/30) effectively sealing Wiggin’s fate. Despite the club’s record Wiggin was still a popular figure in Kansas City, but was nonetheless relieved of his duties on Halloween, marking the only in-season coaching switch in team history. Wiggin concluded his tenure with an 11-24 record.^[1]

Defensive backs coach Tom Bettis was named interim coach and claimed a 20-10 victory vs. Green Bay (11/6) in the club’s initial contest under his direction, but it was the only victory of his brief head coaching tenure. The team endured a six-game losing streak to conclude the season at 2-12.^[1]

Bettis and the remainder of the coaching staff assembled by Wiggin were released on December 19, one day after a 21-20 loss at Oakland (12/18) in the regular season finale. Marv Levy, the former head coach of the CFL’s Montreal Alouettes, was named the fourth head coach in franchise history on December 20.^[1]

The heart and soul of the Chiefs once-vaunted defense departed when roommates Willie Lanier and Jim Lynch, who both joined the club together as second-round draft picks in 1967, retired following the ‘77 campaign. Baltimore later acquired Lanier’s rights in a trade, but failed to lure him out of retirement.^[1]

By managing to win only twice in the 1977 season, the team was given the second pick in the 1978 NFL Draft.

[edit] Schedule

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• 1977 Kansas City Chiefs on Database Football