RIP Buddy Ryan

Buddy was a giant, only synonymous with failures -- the Bears side he left, his Eagles teams, the '93 Oilers -- who had just enough talent to disappoint.

The '85 Bears are among the youngest teams -- alongside the '74 Steelers, '81 Niners and '13 Seahawks -- to win a Super Bowl. What prevented the '86 team from returning is a colossal mistake, something the 30-for-30 episode totally glossed over.
There's no way Ditka or anyone else can excuse just handing Flutie (Steve Fuller was hurt, too?) the starting job so late. How could Ditka totally mismanage the risks/rewards? How could he, a former player, not envision the team's reaction?

 

You're talking about the guy who handed off to William Perry instead of Walter Payton at the goal line in the Super Bowl. If Ditka's foot wasn't in his mouth, it was usually only bc his head was up his ass. Perhaps that's a bit too harsh, but he liked to go against convention, which bit them as often as it helped them. Hell, look what he did in trading up for Ricky Williams.

 

The 30 For 30 didn't really gloss over the Flutie issue. The players interviewed took Ditka to task for it.

As for Ryan himself, as disappointing as his Eagles run was, if you look at it objectively he put them in position to win and it simply didn't happen. There were better teams. He was there from 86-90, when two of the top 10 teams of all time happened to be in the same conference. Even the 1990 season, people forget that the Giants and 49ers both started 10-0 that year and were damn good.
The year it was their turn (1991), he was already gone.
Buddy inherited a dumpster fire with the Eagles and built them back to respectability. He certainly made his share of mistakes, but I'm not sure any of the teams he actually coached in Philly were Super Bowl teams.

 

Yeah, there's the '85 Bears defense, and everyone else.

 

Buddy's swing (and misss) at Kevin Gilbride, and how it's put into context, helps make "Houston 1993" the best "A Football Life" episode I've seen.

 

A lot of coaches would love to fail like Buddy Ryan.

 

1. '91 Eagles.
2. '85 Bears
3. '00 Ravens.

And I could be pretty easily persuaded to swap Nos. 2 and 3.

 

Go away, Lefty.

 

Is this where I start on Lovie and the Tampa 2?

 

Definitely my point. Philly was GOOD. If those Eagles teams come along 10 years later -- when the Falcons, Rams, Kerry Collins-led Giants and Bucs took turns "win-ning" the NFC -- they're in the Super Bowl, more than once.

 

The Cover Who?

 

Why don't we just say they were the best defenses of their decades and be done with it