Broncos 28 Bears 14 (1976)

[Bryan]

Weird end-of-season game between Broncos and Bears. Both teams were decent but had been eliminated from postseason contention. A chilly 23 degree day in Chicago, but nothing too extreme for weather. Bears leading 14-0 at half, eventually losing 28-14. Weird things:

*Bob Avellini goes 2 of 17 with 2 INTs.
*Bears collect 6 turnovers, but manage only 5 first downs on offense.
*In the last game of his career, Bears OLB Ross Brupbacher has 3 INTs.
*Bronco QBs Norris Weese & Craig Penrose combine for 8 completions and 5 INTs.
*Broncos rush 59 times for 356 yards.
*QB Weese has 12 rushing attempts for 120 yards.
*In the 4th quarter, both WR Rick Upchurch and TE Riley Odoms score TDs on rushing attempts.

[JoeZagorski]

I got the sense that 1976 was a weird season in the NFL.

[Evan]

In addition, that game was a culmination of a fierce race to the NFL rushing title between Walter Payton and O.J. Simpson.

Midway through the season, Payton got out to a large yardage lead on O.J., who held out before the season and had a very slow start on what turned out to be a very bad Buffalo team. But O.J. started turning it on and gained on Walter late in the season, passing him at one point before Walter took the lead back.

Going into week 14, Payton had 1,341 yards, and O.J. had 1,332.

With both O.J. and Payton playing games at the same time, O.J. rolled up 171 yards in a 58-20 loss to Baltimore, and Walter was held to 49 by Denver, so O.J. won the rushing title 1,503 to 1,390.

Jeff Pearlman has some details on the Denver-Chicago game in his book "Sweetness", describing how Payton asked to be taken out of the game when he sensed his teammates were more interested in getting him the rushing title than winning the game. Payton left due to an injury late in the third quarter anyway.

[Bryan]

Jeff Pearlman has some details on the Denver-Chicago game in his book "Sweetness", describing how Payton asked to be taken out of the game when he sensed his teammates were more interested in getting him the rushing title than winning the game.

Kind of funny considering how horrid Avellini was throwing the ball that day. The Bears would have been better off trying to get Payton the rushing title as opposed to letting Avellini throw a single pass.

[coachtj]

.....though there are other teams historically that should have done this; the bears in a double tight end single wing alignment with sir walter at tailback could have pounded the rock at the broncos 3-4 defense. both teams combined might have set records for rushing attempts and yards in a game. saw the '76 bears in the coliseum in october that season and they had a fourth q. lead on a strong ram defense until jaws & lawrence mc. rallied to win.

[Gary Najman]

That was also the last career game for Broncos S John Rowser, after 10 seasons in the NFL. In 1976, Rowser returned two interceptions for TDs.