Mike Ditka on Buddy Ryan: ‘We never were as good separately as we were together'

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They feuded, on the practice fields, on the sidelines, in locker rooms, even in showers. Yet Mike Ditka and Buddy Ryan were joined in football history in one of the great “whole is greater than the sum of the parts” in all of sports.

“We had a helluva run,” Ditka told CSNChicago.com. “Buddy had a helluva run. Was it always as smooth as it might have been? Noooo. But I don’t think Buddy would’ve wanted it any other way.

“We accomplished so much together and we were never as good separately as we were together.”

Ditka saw Ryan about eight months ago.

“I knew he wasn’t doing real well. But you know, he was always a tough guy, right to the end.”

Ryan was Ditka’s defensive coordinator, inherited by Ditka when Ditka was hired by George Halas in 1982 to restore the lost passion to one of the NFL’s charter franchises. Ryan’s players convinced Halas to keep Ryan as defensive coordinator even as head coach Neill Armstrong was dismissed.

Ryan refused to run the Dallas Cowboys’ “flex” defense that Ditka wanted, bluntly declaring that Halas had hired him, Ditka didn’t. Ditka ran the offense, Ryan the defense, and the fire was never far from the surface.

Ryan didn’t care if his defensive players went hard in practice to the point of blowing up Ditka’s offense.

“He’d get those guys going, and I remember yelling at him, ‘Check the schedule. We’re not playing the Chicago Bears this week,’” Ditka said. “But he made us a great offense.

“He attacked you. Always attacked you. All the time. He made you – made every offense – adjust to what he was doing.

“He changed the game of football forever.”

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