They started the year stably.
Just over 35 percent of Germans would choose the CDU and the Bavarian sister party CSU - collectively known as the Union.
But the quarrel that broke out in the locker room about who would play at the top got the party in free fall.
- CDU's party leader Armin Laschet is not a goal scorer, said CSU's party leader Marcus Söder before he was forced to throw in the towel.
Meanwhile, the opponents had already warmed up and set their election tactics.
The Greens shot up and were for a short time the largest party in the measurements.
The union finished its election program last of all and named the Greens the main opponents.
Voters would be won with realism, where only the Union can balance climate and industry.
Used to at home
The summer offered scandals and mistakes that dragged down both the Union and the Greens.
At the same time, the Social Democrats, SPD, sailed up.
The autumn thus gave a new draw.
Instead of playing against the Greens, the Union was surprisingly now set against the Reds, SPD - on whom the tactics did not apply.
The Union is used to playing the election campaigns at home where they can dominate in industrial issues, economy and business.
But now much of the election campaign has taken place away from home - in a circle around the SPD's core issue, social justice.
So the rents, the pensions, the salaries.
Amazing achievement
Only during the final sprint did the Union get the right side of the tactics folder.
It focuses on internal security: protecting the Germans from terrorism and organized crime.
An issue that the SPD has a hard time parrying.
And so the Union is intimidated with the red card, a warning for a German left-wing government with the SPD, the Greens and the Left Party that may be possible for the first time.
The fact that the Union picks up three percentage points like this in the final minutes is not out of the question, but would be seen as an astonishing achievement.
The match is still in play.
The final signal goes at 6 pm on Sunday evening.