Day 44 of the Cowboys’ 100-day kickoff countdown takes us back to one of the cleanest playoff beatdowns in franchise history, a game that showed just how complete the 1977 team really was.
On Monday, December 26, 1977, at Texas Stadium in Irving, the Cowboys rolled past the Chicago Bears 37-7 in the NFC Divisional Round. Dallas had finished the regular season 12-2 and was starting the postseason push that would carry it all the way to Super Bowl XII.
Chicago arrived with Walter Payton, the league’s MVP and rushing champion, and a six-game winning streak. None of that mattered once the Cowboys got rolling.
The opening drive set the tone. Roger Staubach connected with Tony Dorsett for 32 yards, and Doug Dennison finished it off with a two-yard touchdown run for a 7-0 lead. From there, Dallas forced the Bears into exactly the kind of game they did not want to play: Bob Avellini dropping back against a defense waiting to pounce.
Staubach kept the pressure on in the second quarter. He hit Drew Pearson for 31 yards and then found Billy Joe DuPree for a 28-yard touchdown to make it 14-0.
Efren Herrera added a 21-yard field goal, and the Cowboys went into halftime with a 17-0 lead. Chicago had a chance to chip away before the break, but Charlie Waters intercepted Avellini in the end zone.
The second half got away from the Bears immediately. On the first play after halftime, D.D.
Lewis picked off Avellini, and Dallas turned the short field into a 23-yard Dorsett touchdown run. On the Bears’ next possession, Avellini fumbled, and Herrera cashed that in with another field goal.
In a matter of minutes, a 17-0 game had become 27-0.
Dorsett added a seven-yard touchdown run later in the third quarter, Herrera kicked another field goal in the fourth, and the Cowboys pushed the margin to 37-0 before Chicago finally got on the board with a 34-yard Avellini touchdown pass to Steve Schubert.
The stat line told the story of total control. Payton, who had run for 1,852 yards in the regular season, was held to 60 yards on 19 carries.
Chicago finished with seven turnovers, including four Avellini interceptions. Waters had three of those picks, and Lewis added another.
Dallas controlled the ball, controlled the line of scrimmage, and controlled Payton.
Waters’ three interceptions set an NFL playoff record, and the Cowboys’ seven takeaways turned a dangerous Bears team into a mess. For a Chicago squad making its first playoff appearance since the 1963 championship season, this was a harsh lesson in postseason football.
That’s why this game belongs on the list. It was the first postseason hammer blow in a title run that continued with a 23-6 win over Minnesota in the NFC Championship Game and a 27-10 victory over Denver in Super Bowl XII.
Dallas didn’t just beat the Bears. It flattened them.
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