It was YOUR TEAM that did it, though!
:)
I’m kidding. A team with a better owner wouldn’t have blinked at what happened in 1977. But Bidwill wasn’t anyone’s definition of a competent owner.
But one of my first great sports “Holy shit, this is the most terrible thing ever” moments happened on Thanksgiving, 1977. The Big Red were 7-3 heading into that game, having won 6 straight to right the ship after a 1-3 start.
They played Miami at home in St. Louis on that Thanksgiving late afternoon. Miami wouldn’t make the playoffs that year, but would post a 10-4 record. They too were 7-3. For the four games heading into Thanksgiving, they’d scored 13, 14, 17, and 17 points respectively in each. In the two games after this Turkey Day tilt, they’d score 10 and 17 points.
In fact, the biggest weakness of this particular Dolphins team was the offense. They still had Bob Griese and Nat Moore, but there weren’t many other particular standouts on the team. Effective guys, sure. But no real stars.
People expected St. Louis to roll. They didn’t. The Miami defense was still too good. The Cardinals couldn’t run the ball, and seemed flummoxed. They had a terrible punter who kept Miami in good field position.
And Miami could run. With NFL immortals like Gary Davis and Leroy Harris, they rushed for 295 yards that day. And though Griese only threw for 200 yards (he didn’t need to throw, really) he had 6 (six) touchdown passes. The score was 28-7 at the half, and 55-14 when it mercifully ended.
The now 7-4 Big Red were shell-shocked. They lost the next week to a terrible New York Giants team, 27-7. The week after was the final kill-shot though. Facing the hated 'Skins at home, Terry Metcalf had two key fumbles that led to Washington scores, and despite rushing for 119 yards and catching a 68-yard TD pass, he was booed lustily by angry fans. The next day in the paper, Metcalf, whose contract was up at the end of the year said: “I’m out.” (This, before NFL free agency was really robust; he’d go play in the CFL.)
Even more angry was Coryell. Injuries had decimated his defense, and he’d begged the front office to draft him defensive players in the 1977 draft. The front office responded by drafting a bad QB prospect (Steve Pisarkiewicz, who’d played at a local high school and at Mizzou; Bidwill envisioned him replacing Hart and becoming a hometown hero…not so much) in the first round. In the second round they drafted someone named George Franklin, a running back who would miss the entire 1977 season and be released. Franklin’s entire career consists of 1 carry for -8 yards as a 3rd-stringer for the Giants.
So Coryell called up the sports editor of the Globe Democrat on Tuesday night after that Giants game, just 2 weeks after the mauling by the Dolphins on national TV, and told the sports editor (Bob Koster) “I’m going to give you a story that’s going to get me fired.” And for a remarkable two hours, Coryell went off on Bidwill, the Cardinals front office, and the team in general. And sure enough, he was fired.
And San Diego said “THANK YOU VERY MUCH.”
And St. Louis never again made the playoffs in a non-strike shortened year. They left after 1987, having never once hosted a home playoff game.
