Legendary defensive mind Buddy Ryan passed away at the age of 85 this Tuesday. Buddy was the father to modern NFL loud mouth bumblers Rex and Rob Ryan. He was the architect of the legendary 46 defense that took the ’85 Chicago Bears to their one and only championship. He was the master behind the Purple People Eaters, the Jets linebackers coach for their famous upset in Super Bowl 3, and the guy who pretty much ordered the infamous “body bag game” between the Skins and the Eagles.

Buddy seems like he was an easy man to respect but a hard man to love. If you watched the 30 for 30 recently about the ’85 Bears, he is presented as some sort of saint, and you can tell how much he meant to Mike Singletary and that defense. It’s clear that to players he liked, he was important as any person in their life. The problem was that was a hard circle to breach, and he was a huge dick to everyone who hadn’t earned his respect. Buddy will go down as one of the last great true football assholes. The kind of asshole that would never last in the modern world.

While the ’85 Bears doc paints a very positive image, the stories about Buddy from everywhere else seem…less forgiving. He hated Mike Ditka. He hated offenses. He hated quarterbacks. He thought everyone on offense was a huge wimp. His defenses were based around causing as much pain and misery to the players as possible. He tried to punch Kevin Gilbride, a coordinator on the same team as him. Swell dude. We all go nuts about how Rex Ryan talks these days, but Rex is a pussy cat compared to his dad.

Buddy, in my eyes, deserves the Hall of Fame. It’s kind of sad he’s not already there. Buddy was a dick but he led so many important defenses, including possibly the greatest defense of all time. I’m a man who believes legacy and importance to the game matters just as much as raw stats. You can’t write the history of the NFL without mentioning Buddy, and to me, that’s what makes a Hall of Famer.

Edit: To those of you getting technical about the word Championship vs Super Bowl, I refuse to acknowledge Championships before the Super Bowl era because the Eagles won some of those