1977 Kansas City Chiefs season

1977 Kansas City Chiefs season
Head coach	Paul Wiggin (Fired) Tom Bettis (Interim)
Home field	Arrowhead Stadium
Results
Record	2–12
Division place	5th AFC West
Playoff finish	did not qualify
Pro Bowlers	None
← 1976 Chiefs seasons 1978 →

The 1977 Kansas City Chiefs season was the worst in franchise history until 2008, with the Chiefs winning only two of fourteen games. After an 0-5 start, 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. The team endured a six-game losing streak to conclude the season at 2-12.

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.

Defensive backs coach Tom Bettis was named interim coach and claimed a 20–10 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 2–12.

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.

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.

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

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