I have pointed out since about 1983, that the bears’ defense was easy to beat by quick, short passes, including quick passes to the tight end. The few times teams did do this, it worked. I also said running on first down into that defense would result in punts or fumbles. I also pointed out that about a year after the 1985 Super Bowl season, there were a number of articles in national publications saying that no one, not even Buddy Ryan, head coach of the Eagles, played the 46 anymore since it was so easy to beat.
Tonight I watched “Inside Look: Mike Ditka” on Comcast. Among other things, the host discussed the 1985 season with him. Ditka gave Buddy Ryan tremendous credit, saying Ryan was ahead of his time. He gave him a lot of credit for creating that defense. Not as a slam on Ryan as he was very complimentary, but as a reflection on this, Ditka then went on to say that you couldn’t run that defense today, because teams would spread out and attack it. He said the defense had “too many vulnerabilities” and spots where it could be attacked. He said people didn’t know it then, and thought they had to protect instead of attack. He said it could be attacked. This is another example of something I realized years before coaches, and something that was so obvious it was ridiculous no one figured this out and understood this. It was great to see the national publications admit this after the fact, and it’s now great that Ditka is doing the same. Yes, the bears had great personnel, but the way they lined up left so many vulnerabilities as Ditka put it and as I have always said. This was obvious to anyone with a basic understanding of football, but apparently not to any of the head coaches in the NFL.