The 1977 Kansas City Chiefs season was the franchise's 8th season in the National Football League, the 15th as the Kansas City Chiefs, and the 18th overall. This season was the worst in franchise history until the 2008 season, with the Chiefs winning only two of fourteen games. After an 0âÂÂ5 start, Head coach Paul Wiggin was fired following a 44âÂÂ7 loss to Cleveland in week 7. Tom Bettis took over as interim head coach for the rest of the season. The team endured a six-game losing streak to conclude the season at 2âÂÂ12.
Linebackers Willie Lanier and Jim Lynch, the last remaining links to the Chiefs' Super Bowl IV championship team in 1969, each played their final NFL season.
An 0âÂÂ5 start doomed the squad with a 44âÂÂ7 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 first in-season coaching switch in team history, and the last until 2011, when Todd Haley was fired with three games remaining. Wiggin concluded his tenure with an 11âÂÂ24 record.
Defensive backs coach Tom Bettis was named interim coach and claimed a 20âÂÂ10 victory vs. Green Bay (11/6) in the franchise'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 2âÂÂ12. (Ironically, Haley's successor, Romeo Crennel, also won his first game in charge against the Packers at home; Green Bay entered that game 13âÂÂ0.)
Bettis and the remainder of the coaching staff assembled by Wiggin were released on December 19, one day after a 21âÂÂ20 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.
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 1977 campaign. Baltimore later acquired Lanier's rights in a trade, but failed to lure him out of retirement.
By managing to win only twice in the 1977 season, the team was given the second pick in the 1978 NFL draft.