Buddy Ryan's Boys: The Defense Rises

One of the best strategic match ups in NFL history was Buddy Ryan's 46 Defense vs.  Bill Walsh's West Coast Offense in the 1980's. The offense-less Chicago Bears were whipped by Walsh and Joe Montana twice in the playoffs, but the Bears managed to stop the 49er attack a few times in exciting regular season match-ups.

When Buddy Ryan flew to the Philadelphia Eagles he took his 46 with him and developed a brutal defense. In one of the best games in NFL history, his peaking 1989 Eagle defense brutalized Joe Montana for three quarters until Cool Joe led a miraculous fourth quarter comeback to win in Philly.

It was two powerful football systems colliding at their peak.

Today in this era of parity and poor quarterback play, good defenses dominate. Free agency hurts the offenses more as QB's and wide receivers no longer develop rhythm together over entire careers. Offensive lines no longer mold together into smooth operating blocking machines. QB's no longer call their own plays or are able to adjust to defensive schemes.

It's hard to develop the timing, knack, and smarts to run the West Coast offense to perfection but the attacking shadow of Buddy Ryan's 46 still lurks around the league in the coaches he taught.

Ryan's most obvious legacies are his son's Rex and Rob. Rob of the Oakland Raiders has struggled to develop a high quality defense on a team in a constant of turmoil. The Raiders have spent a lot of money, but seen little results.

Rex Ryan of the Baltimore Ravens has seen far more success with a much more defensively talented team. His Raven defense has borrowed the Old Man's attacking concepts and has been one of the best in the league. 

Tennessee Titan Coach Jeff Fisher played under Ryan during the 46's Glory Days with the 1980's Chicago Bears. Fisher was injured the season the Bears blitzed their way to the Super Bowl, but spent invaluable time on the sideline as basically an assistant coach studying the system that season.

Fisher followed Ryan to Philadelphia and further mastered his defensive schemes. Fisher has been Ryan's most successful pupil and his Titans play a vicious type of defense which would make the old Bears proud.

The key to the 46 defense was always a dominate interior lineman who could draw double teams or devastate single blocking.

Buddy Ryan had Hall of Famer Allan Page at the Minnesota Vikings, Hall of Famer Dan Hampton with the Chicago Bears, and Hall of Famer Reggie White with the Philadelphia Eagles playing the pivotal role in his best defenses.

In Tennessee, Fisher has the monstrous Albert Haynesworth playing at a high level and being a disruptive force. We shall see how far Fisher's defense carries him this year.

Buddy Ryan's favorite player was Hall of Fame middle linebacker Mike Singletary of the Chicago Bears. Singletary has recently taken over as head man with the Bears' old rivals the San Francisco 49ers. Linebacker Patrick Willis will be asked to play a key role as the Niners try to develop an attacking style of defense.

Minnesota Viking defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier was a starting corner on the Bears Super Bowl team. He suffered a knee injury that ended his career in the Super Bowl and joined the coaching ranks. The Vikings defense is the key to this year's team and he has the horses on the defensive line to develop a dominate defense. Giving up 48 points to his old team, however, just won't cut it, even though offensive and special teams blunders contributed to that fiasco.

Wade Phillips of the Dallas Cowboys was Ryan's defensive coordinator during his time in Philadelphia. The Eagles defense were some of the best, and most vicious, in recent NFL history, but always seem to fail in the playoffs.

Greg Williams, the defensive coordinator of the Jacksonville Jaguars, was an assistant under Ryan when he was the defensive head man for the Houston Oilers. The Jags play solid, but conservative defense. They show little of the multiple blitzes and river boat gambles that marked the old Buddy Ryan defenses.

When the Chicago Bears defense led them to the Super Bowl in 2006, their attacking defense was coached by Ron Rivera, who was a backup linebacker on the Bears 1985 Super Bowl team. Rivera left the 2007 Bears over a contract dispute and is now the linebacker coach of the San Diego Chargers.

The Bears defense has never regained its swagger since he departed.

The man the 46 Defense was named after, head hunting, hard hitting, Bear safety Doug Plank would be a vicious a player in today's safety conscious NFL, but he is a defensive assistant on the Atlanta Falcon defense.

No teams run a replica 46 anymore. The rule changes make it impossible. The brutalization of QB's, they can't win with "tears in their eyes" Ryan concept, is outlawed. So are the vicious hits on WR's daring to catch the ball across the middle. Defenses must, by regulation, play nicer. Talk of bounties on players draw five-digit fines.

Bill Parcells' once said playing against the Ryan-era Eagles was like playing against a bunch of Cro-Magnon men.

The Cro-Magnon men are outlawed now.

Sometimes they still stick their head up, though. During the Super Bowl when the New York Giants pressuring defense was using defensive tackle Justin Tuck to exploit New England Patriot offensive weakness and batter Tom Brady, it was a glimpse of the grinning ghosts of Bear defenses past.

So when one sees a vicious defense attacking a helpless offense and battering a confused QB, take a long look and see if one of Buddy's boys is stalking the sideline and know somewhere the Old Man is smiling.