text: On the field, the Chiefs suffered their worst season ever in 1977, winning just twice and undergoing a mid-season coaching change. Following three consecutive 5–9 seasons, the team finished with a league worst 2–12 record. An 0–5 start doomed the squad with a 44–7 loss at Cleveland, where Wiggin starred as a defensive lineman during the Browns' glory days, effectively sealing the coach's fate. Wiggin was relieved of his duties on Halloween, marking the only in-season coaching switch in team history. Defensive backs coach Tom Bettis was named interim coach and claimed a 20–10 victory against Green Bay in the club's initial contest under his direction, but it was the only victory of his brief head coaching tenure.
  Bettis and the remainder of the coaching staff assembled by Wiggin were relieved on December 19, one day after a 21–20 loss at Oakland in the regular season finale. Marv Levy, the former head coach of the Canadian Football League's Montreal Alouettes, was named the fourth head coach in franchise history the following day. The heart and soul of the Chiefs once-vaunted defense departed when Willie Lanier and Jim Lynch retired following the season.
  Signs of improvement, 1978–1982
  For 1978, Marv Levy's systematic restocking of a relatively barren defensive roster began with a 1978 draft class that included defensive end Art Still and linebacker Gary Spani. Running back Ed Podolak, who was the club's all-time leading rusher at the time, retired in the offseason on June 15.