Mike Ditka exalts Buddy Ryan for his contributions to the ’85 Bears
By Hunter Cooke
Buddy Ryan built the greatest defense of all time, and his former head coach praised him for it.
The legend of Buddy Ryan has become thrust back in the limelight after his death this morning.
Buddy Ryan was the brains behind the defense of the 1985 Chicago Bears, which was almost arguably the best defense of all time. The flamboyant former NFL defensive coordinator and head coach built a nasty unit that physically dismantled offenses with ease. Ryan’s “46” defense hounded and often wounded quarterbacks all throughout the ’80s, and it was the driving force behind the Bear’s 1985 Super Bowl victory.
Buddy Ryan and former Bears head coach Mike Ditka famously butted heads all throughout Ditka’s tenure with the Bears, but the head coach always respected the defensive coordinator. On Tuesday, Ditka spoke to ESPN Radio on the impact of Buddy Ryan. He said,
"“The ’85 Bears would not have been the ’85 Bears without Buddy Ryan.“You know, they [the defense] did what Buddy wanted them to do on defense. And fortunately we were good enough where our offense would get to the point where they could compliment some of things they did on the defense. But there’s no question, we won the Super Bowl because of our defense. You’d have to be a fool to say otherwise. We had great players on offense in Walter Payton and Willie Gault and some of the other guys we had, our offensive line, but our defense is why we won.”"
Related Story: Buddy Ryan dead at age 82
Ditka essentially gave Buddy Ryan all of the credit for the devastating ’85 Bears. That’s a pretty high honor from a coach as accomplished as Ditka is.
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