Nov. 20, 1977: Walter Payton runs into the history books

When you watch a football game as a teenager and think, "That's the greatest run I've ever seen," chances are that you not only have seen greater runs in your past but will see several more better runs in your future.

Not so with Walter Payton's 18-yard run against the Chiefs on Nov. 13, 1977. With the Bears trailing the Chiefs 17-0 at Soldier Field and their faint playoff hopes flickering, Payton took a handoff from Bob Avellini at the Chiefs' 18-yard line, got hemmed in on the right side, cut back to his left and eluded five tackles as he deked, darted and bulled his way toward the end zone before Chiefs linebacker Thomas Howard tackled Payton at the 4. At 18, I had never seen a better run — Gale Sayers had more spectacular runs, but defenders rarely got close enough for him to pin-ball his way through a defense like Payton did. And to this day it's still the best run I've ever seen.

That performance in a memorable 28-27 Bears victory, but Payton not only did that but did it the very next week. On Nov. 20, 1977 against the Vikings, Payton deked, darted and bulled his way to an NFL-record 275 yards in a 10-7 victory on a windy day at Soldier Field. It broke O.J. Simpson's record of 273 yards the previous season — Nov. 25, 1976.

Even in a record-setting performance, it was a workman-like effort for Payton, who, playing with the flu and a 103-degree temperature, had a franchise-record 40 carries and leaned heavily on solid blocking from guard Noah Jackson and Revie Sorey, plus center Dan Peiffer, tackles Ted Albrecht and Dennis Lick, tight end Greg Latta and fullback Robin Earl (subbing for injured starter Roland Harper).

Payton, in fact, wasn't even near record territory until a 58-yard run to the Vikings' 9-yard line with less than five minutes to play. His second-longest carry was 29 yards.

With help from his blockers, Payton's rushing was virtually the entire show for the Bears on offense. Avellini threw just seven passes. And — all too typically — Payton's 275 yards produced just 10 points. In fact, the Bears' two scoring drives that day came off a 22-yard punt and a Virgil Livers interception. The 10 points are the fewest points scored by a team with a rusher gaining 225 yards or more in the history of the National Football League. The average is 31.9 points. (When Gale Sayers previously set the franchise record with 205 yards against the Packers in 1968, the Bears won 13-10.)

And Payton breaking Simpson's record almost was disastrous for the 1977 Bears. He broke the record with a four-yard run on fourth-and-goal from the Vikings' 6-yard line with 2:12 to play. Coach Jack Pardee disdained a field goal that would have given the Bears a six-point lead because he feared a blocked kick — Bears-killer Matt Blair already had blocked a punt in that game, his third block against the Bears that season.

By winning only 13-10, the Bears ultimately lost a tie-breaker with the Vikings for the Central division title (point-differential in head-to-head games, the No. 4 tie-breaker). Had the Bears won 16-10, they would have won the tie-breaker (best point differential in division games — the No. 5 tie-breaker).

Fortunately for the Bears, the wild-card was still in play because George Allen's Redskins also finished 9-5 and the Bears won that tie-breaker with a better point-differential in NFC games). Still, losing the division pitted them against the eventual Super Bowl champion Cowboys instead of the more vulnerable Rams. The Bears lost to the Cowboys, 35-7. The Vikings beat the Rams on the road, 14-7.

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Walter Payton's NFL-record 275 yards against the Vikings in 1977 gave the Bears rare national exposure — featured in Howard Cosell's halftime highlights on Monday Night Football on Nov. 21, 1977. We didn't have videotape machines in those days, but here's the audio from that ABC broadcast.

Payton's single-game rushing record lasted nearly 13 years, until Bengals running back Corey Dillon broke it with 278 yards against the Broncos in 2000. The Ravens' Jamaal Lewis broke Dillon's record with 295 yards against the Browns in 2003. The Vikings' Adrian Peterson broke that mark with 296 yards against the Chargers in 2007.

Threats to the single-game record have diminished in recent years, with only three rusher gaining 250 or more yards in the last 13 seasons — the Titans' Derrick Henry (25) and the Colts' Jonathan Taylor (253) in Week 17 in 2021; and the Eagles' Saquon Barkley (255) last season.

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