The 85 Bears

primoa1970 · Tue Aug 29, 2017 4:07 pm

This is my first time to The Forum. Forgive me if this has been asked a million times but here goes. The 1985 Bears defense. Was it great because of the players or because of Buddy Ryan's system?

Tue Aug 29, 2017 4:26 pm

Both. Buddy Ryan's system took advantage of several consecutive HoF drafts and perfectly utilized the bevy of available talent to create a system which in that era hadn't been seen before. Opinions differ, and the players would certainly give all the credit to Buddy, but the safest response is one wouldn't have worked without the other.

primoa1970 · Tue Aug 29, 2017 4:56 pm

Thank you. I met Mike Ditka and sat with him for about 15 minutes on an Avis shuttle bus about 8 years ago at an airport. Never did think to ask him this question in person. His perspective would have been awesome.

Moriarty · Fri Sep 08, 2017 8:08 pm

Both certainly contributed, but if I had to pick only 1, I'd easily take the players over the system.

After Buddy departed, the new DC switched to a radically different scheme...and they were still the best defense in the league.

alexwilkins · Sat Sep 09, 2017 6:24 am

What a time to be alive. Even though I wasn't. You could argue Richard Dent is the best pass rusher of all time, but you know, more recently its not a coincidence the 9ers D got better when Fangio got there. Coaching does matter. It was both for sure.

staleystarch · Fri Sep 22, 2017 1:56 pm

Buddy Ryan's system was actually Neil Armstrong's system. It was essentially a modified goal line defense first brought in for one game (The Chargers) because of injuries. It was so successful they kept using it. It was a high risk system when it was brought in because until they got the right personnel it was prone to giving up the big play. Once they did get the right players it was watch out!

Edit: I have to admit I was going by memory giving Neil Armstrong the credit. I have since done a web search on that particular game which I remember well. I found this doing my web search:

"I still remember Neill Armstrong's speech he made at the hotel the night before we played the Chargers," safety Gary Fencik recalled. "Neill basically said we didn't have any chance of winning the game. But Buddy had some new defensive schemes to try and put added pressure on Fouts, force him to hurry his decisions."
http://www.espn.com/nfl/news/story?id=5516086" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Soooo, it was Buddy's D