that is not the least bit true Ok, so the West Coast offense was invented earlier. It became popular though because Walsh had success with it as coach of the 49ers. The point is that the post 85 Bears were up against teams that had multiple HOF players. Buddy Ryan leaving wasn't the problem. Buddy Ryan leaving was absolutely a problem. He was the only high level coach on the staff that was then left with an even bigger ego Ditka who couldn't strategize for horsefeathers. Buddy staying would have not guaranteed any additional wins. But his leaving precipitated the demise of the team. It wasn't the only problem, but it made the biggest problem, Ditka was a bad coach, even worse.