What’s it like to follow the man?
Vince Tobin, who followed Buddy Ryan, knows
— Vince Tobin, who took over as Bears defensive coordinator after Buddy Ryan bolted to become the Eagles head coach switching from hard rock to classical music. Even Ryan criticized Tobin’s hiring.
“We were very different. Buddy ran a different ship,’’ Tobin acknowledged. “But Mike never once said, ‘You have to do this or that.’ He never looked over my shoulder. I had total autonomy and always appreciated that. The main thing for the coordinator who replaces Vic is to be yourself. You have to remember you’ve proven you can coach. You can’t worry about the coach you followed, no matter how good he was. I couldn’t stand up there and think, ‘Well, Buddy set all the records and now it’s my job.’ There is no way I could have done my job that way.’’
Confident in his ability and football intellect, Tobin switched from the Bears’ legendary “46 defense” that featured four down linemen to a 3-4 scheme he used in the USFL. Tobin’s weekly game plans called for fewer blitzes and more structure, perhaps the biggest adjustment for a group as aggressive as the ’85 defense. His philosophy dictated the Bears take fewer chances than they did under Ryan, which didn’t always sit well with players judging Tobin as critically as fans and media did.
“One of the first things I said was, ‘I know you guys loved Buddy, but Buddy left you,’ ’’ Tobin said. “‘It wasn’t me that had anything to do with that. We can lament that for a long time or we can pull together.’ We pulled together. … Whoever comes in for the Bears now after Vic has to be the same way. It wasn’t the coordinator that necessarily made them good. It was the talent.’’
Talent prevailed in 1986, when the Bears went 14-2 with a defense that enjoyed a better year statistically under Tobin. The Bears again dominated, giving up only 187 points — 11 fewer than they did in ’85. They held 10 of 16 regular-season opponents to 10 points or fewer. They held opponents to an average of 258.1 yards per game with 62 sacks — only two fewer than in ’85.
Bears history suggests the defense improved in 1986, but Wilson tells a different story, demonstrating how acceptance of Tobin came slowly.
“If Buddy stayed we would have won two Super Bowls in a row,’’ Wilson said on WSCR-AM 670. “We went from a dominating defense to just an all-right defense. All the aggressiveness was gone. The system changed the way we played football. We had enough pride that we weren’t going to let it fall apart. We struggled to play the way we play as people. You play with somebody who says we’re going to ‘bend, don’t break.’ Well, I can’t play getting punched in my face and then react.’’
Tobin’s system was more paint-bynumbers compared with Ryan’s abstract approach, and former Bears safety Gary Fencik recalled how Pro Bowl-caliber players used to such free expression resisted. Fencik cited how limited the secondary became, for instance, by eliminating certain pre-snap coverage checks based on formations compared with changing on the fly in Ryan’s scheme.
“Vince began to erode the things that made us unique,’’ Fencik said. “But we wanted to prove we were great without Buddy. Vince inherited a tough position, not unlike the guy replacing Vic. The expectations are to maintain it or take it to the next level, and the tricky part is the dynamics and personalities. It’s a vulnerable situation until you see results.’’
The Bears expect positive results in 2019 from a defense expected to return at least 10 regulars from the NFL’s stingiest unit. But as coach Matt Nagy expressed after the team’s crushing 16-15 playoff loss to the Eagles, every season introduces a change in chemistry. Seasons are like snowflakes — no two are alike.
A guy who survived that scrutiny offered some advice for Pagano, a man with whom Tobin can relate.
“You’ve got to be yourself because you got hired based on your ability to do the job and if you do something different than Vic Fangio, that’s OK,’’ said Tobin, the Bears defensive coordinator from 1986-92. “Be yourself. Do what got you there in the first place. If that’s the same system the Bears fan, great, but if it isn’t, that’s fine too.’’
Asked how hot his seat was from day one, Tobin chuckled.
“I’m not sure I felt all that much pressure because Mike turned it over to me,’’ he said. “Whoever replaces a guy like Vic or a guy like Buddy has to know he has the full support of the head coach. That takes away any anxiety. I loved Chicago.’’
Even when the feeling wasn’t always mutual.
“One of the first things I said was, ‘I know you guys loved Buddy, but Buddy left you.’ ’’
David Haugh is a special contributor to the Chicago Tribune and co-host of the “Mully and Haugh Show” weekdays from 5-9 a.m. on WSCR-AM-670.