Wait a second.
First off, the fact that the 46 has not stood the test of time is, in no way, shape, or form a reflection on Buddy Ryan's abilities as the architect of one of the most effective defenses ever to be run in the NFL. Football is constantly changing and evolving and he designed the perfect defense for the offenses of that day, for which he should get kudos.
Secondly, while few, if any, in this thread ever felt the sting of Buddy's playoff losses as much as I did, calling him a failure as a coach is laughable. He was one of the greatest judges of horse flesh ever to walk an NFL sideline. The talent he secured for the Birds of Prey defense was fantastic, he knew who would work in his systems. The mistakes that were made in the draft were on the offensive line and were made on "can't miss" picks, unfortunately. The Birds of Prey defense was sick. They were as good as advertised and had Jerome Brown not gotten behind the wheel of a too fast automobile they had a chance to be all-time great. They may have been all-time great anyhow, it has been a while since I have looked at all of the various "era" stats.
Thirdly, Buddy had shit luck. His best team - the '91 team - had its championship hopes blown to smithereens when Bryce Paup landed on Cunningham's leg in the first game of the season. Randall's QB coach, with whom he had a very close relationship, died suddenly after his rookie season of a brain tumor. Randall was so devastated that he told Buddy that he didn't want another QB coach (Buddy obviously shouldn't have respected that decision, but you can see how he would do so), which hampered his development until he got to the Vikings. Chris Carter was an alcoholic when he played for the Eagles despite Buddy pushing him repeatedly to get clean. Jerome Brown dies in a car accident. As I note above, his biggest draft failures were the ones that the pundits went gaga over when they were made. He was working under an owner who was hated by the league, the players and the city.
I'm not a huge fan of the bounties, but his shit-talking was great entertainment and he delivered more times than he didn't.
Buddy Ryan was not a brilliant head coach, but he was very, very far from not being, at least, "pretty darned good." His players loved him (watch the documentary on the '85 Bears.....it is hard to realize that Ditka was actually the coach of that team), his defenses were suffocating, and if he had caught a break or two he may well have been a bigger winner.
Let's not spend this thread acting like bitches because the guy's son has said he would beat our team and then did it a few times in big spots. Ryan was a great football mind and tremendous, tremendous entertainment. He deserves the praise he will get over the next few days.