Written by Conor Orr at NFL.com
Buddy Ryan, the architect of perhaps the greatest defense in NFL history, a doting father to a pair of current-day coaches who carry on his blustery style and legendary curmudgeon beloved by multiple fan bases passed away on Tuesday morning after a lengthy battle with cancer, his agent confirmed to NFL Media.
He was 82 years old.
Ryan, who created the 46 defense which propelled the Chicago Bears to a dominating victory in Super Bowl XX, was more than just a one hit wonder. His innovation as a blitz-crazed defensive line coach for the New York Jets lifted the team to its only Super Bowl victory in franchise history back in 1969 on the heels of such gems as the “Cheeseburger Blitz” and “Taco Bell Blitz.” He was also one of the creative forces behind Minnesota’s “Purple People Eaters” defenses back in the mid-1970s.
Oklahoma born and bred, Ryan entered the coaching profession in 1961 with the University of Buffalo following his service in the Military. From there, a career as a defensive troubadour began, winding its way through New York, Minnesota, Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston and Arizona. “Without Buddy Ryan…I’m just a guy,” legendary Bears linebacker Mike Singletary said on an ESPN documentary about the 1985 Bears. “He’s someone that you meet, and you think he’s the toughest, meanest guy that you’ll ever meet. But he loves you. He just doesn’t know how to express it. But you know it when he looks at you.”
Added Mike Ditka, the head coach of the 1985 Bears, on Tuesday morning: “We lost a good one. There will never be another guy like Buddy, believe me.”
Ryan turned conventional football wisdom on its head early on in his career. He never understood the coddling of NFL quarterbacks, and famously surmised that “a quarterback has never completed a pass when he was flat on his back.” He believed that quarterbacks made too much money, attracted too much attention and acted with an unfair sense of entitlement — and he spent nearly his entire career torturing them.
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