Carlo Ancelotti admitted Chelsea would have surrendered the Premier League title had they failed to end their miserable run by beating Bolton.
The Blues ground out the scrappiest of 1-0 wins at Stamford Bridge to take maximum points for the first time in seven matches and close to within four points of leaders Manchester United.
The result eased the pressure on manager Ancelotti, who had overseen the club's worst sequence since 1999, a run that saw them slump from top spot to fifth in the table.
After watching his side edge back above Tottenham into fourth, the Italian revealed he felt they needed to win to maintain their title defence.
"Obviously, yes," said Ancelotti, who went into Wednesday night's match with the backing of billionaire owner Roman Abramovich.
"I think it was the most important thing to change the atmosphere, to change the trend, to come back to win.
"This was the most important thing."
Chelsea were far from their best, especially in a miserable first half in which they failed to muster a shot on target.
They were much improved after the break but Bolton had enough chances to have snatched a point.
Ancelotti was therefore reluctant to brand the result the turning point in his side's season.
He said: "We have to wait. It was a very important step, this victory, this performance.
"Bolton played well, they used a lot of power up front, they were dangerous.
"Now we have to wait for the next game.
"This is an important step.
"I'm not sure that everything now will be okay. We have to put on a performance again."
Ancelotti insisted he was not panicking at half-time, saying: "(I was) not worried because we knew that the game was not easy.
"We needed to fight on the long ball and I think that defensively we did very well to control Davies and Elmander.
"We lost some passes in the first half - we were a little bit afraid.
"But this was normal because there was a lot of pressure on this game.
"The second half was really better."
The winner was scored in the 61st minute by Florent Malouda and the relief as the ball hit the net was palable around Stamford Bridge.
"The goal took the weight off our shoulders," said Ancelotti, who shrugged off questions over whether Didier Drogba was offside in laying on the goal.
"I don't know if it was offside and I'm not interested."
Opposite number Owen Coyle was certainly interested in that decision and also another he felt robbed his side of a potential point.
"We came to be positive in the game, believing that we could win the match," he said.
"I think we controlled the game for periods in the match, whilst accepting that Chelsea have world-class players.
"Regardless of people's perception of their form, you know at times they're always going to have spells in games.
"We looked as if we'd weathered any threat they had.
"Ultimately, we've been done with a huge decision that I believe was offside.
"We had a few half-chances, possibly could've had a penalty as well with John Terry's handball.
"But I was here last year and had two stonewall penalties - I think Didier Drogba was playing volleyball with one - and I never got a penalty, so I certainly wasn't going to get that tonight."
When informed assistant referee Darren Cann was an official at this summer's World Cup final, Coyle added: "I know he is because I had him earlier in the season at Wigan as well with a goal that was clearly offside.
"So there you go."
Despite missing the chance to climb above Chelsea in the league, Coyle was nevertheless delighted at the progress his side had made since he took charge at the start of 2010 - when Bolton were in the drop zone.
He said: "If somebody had said we'd be coming to Chelsea in the last game of the year with a chance to leapfrog them, at that point they'd have probably taken me away in a straightjacket."
