The Greatest In-Season NFL Turnaround For All 32 Teams
By Erik Lambert
Chicago Bears: 1977
This season began pretty much like all others for the Bears. They hadn’t made the playoffs to this point since their championship run in 1963. Since then they’d endured the worst stretch of losing in franchise history. It didn’t look like this year would be much different. After an opening day win over Detroit, they went on to lose four of their next five games. Things hit bottom on November 6th when the Houston Oilers crushed them 47-0 to make their record 3-5.
Only by winning out could they possibly have a chance to reach the postseason. It almost ended before it began were it not for a literal last-second touchdown to beat Kansas City 28-27. Led by Walter Payton who claimed MVP honors that year with 2,121 yards from scrimmage and 16 touchdowns, the Bears won their final six games including a nail-biter finale in a miserable slush covered Giants Stadium in New York to end the longest playoff drought in Bears history.