Dick Butkus Almost Became a Ram

To some, Dick Butkus was as much a part of Chicago as Navy Pier and deep-dish pizza. To George Allen, Butkus was an L.A. kind of guy.

When he was head coach of the Los Angeles Rams in 1970, Allen tried to acquire Butkus from the Chicago Bears. In Pro Football Weekly, Mal Florence of the Los Angeles Times wrote, “One NFL source reported that Allen offered all-pro defensive end Deacon Jones and fullback Dick Bass to the Bears for Butkus,” but the proposal was rejected.

Allen was determined to keep trying. The timing seemed right to make it happen.

In Butkus’ first five years (1965-69) as their bone-crushing middle linebacker, the Bears finished with winning records just twice and never reached the NFL playoffs. The low point came in 1969 when the Bears were 1-13.

Though he wasn’t looking to leave Chicago, his hometown, Butkus was fed up with the losing and resented what he perceived as meddling from Bears owner George Halas in the decisions of head coach Jim Dooley.

“Things have reached a point where we’ve got to make some changes,” Butkus told the Los Angeles Times, “but I don’t blame the coaches. Dooley can’t do what he wants to do. The coach’s hands are tied, and that’s not the way to build a strong football team.”

That wasn’t the situation in Los Angeles, where George Allen had control of the football operations.

With his contract expiring after the 1969 season, Butkus was considering becoming a free agent. His attorney, Arthur Morse, told the Chicago Tribune that Butkus was so frustrated by the losing “there is an outside chance he will be playing for another team next year.”

Allen pounced on that chance. He hoped the Bears would trade Butkus to the Rams rather than risk having him walk away as a free agent.

Allen had been the Bears’ defensive coordinator when Butkus joined the team in 1965. After the season, Allen left to become head coach of the Rams. He took over a team that had experienced seven straight losing seasons (1959-65) and immediately turned them into winners.

The Rams never had a losing season with Allen as their head coach and he twice took them to the playoffs. As Dave Anderson of the New York Times noted, “George Allen was a winning coach who knew how to construct a winning team with winning players. He preferred experience to potential.”

To Allen, Butkus, 28, was just the kind of impact player who could turn the Rams into a Super Bowl team in 1970. The Rams had an outstanding defense, with the likes of linemen Merlin Olsen, Diron Talbert, Coy Bacon, and Deacon Jones, linebackers Maxie Baughan and Jack Pardee, and defensive backs Kermit Alexander, Ed Meador, Richie Petitbon (a former Bears teammate of Butkus) and Clancy Williams.

(Asked about Butkus, Deacon Jones, a savage sacker, said to the Chicago Tribune, “I called him a maniac. A stone maniac. He was a well-conditioned animal, and every time he hit you, he tried to put you in the cemetery, not the hospital.”)

Butkus, replacing Myron Pottios at middle linebacker, would make that defense otherworldly.

“It is believed Butkus would like to play for the Rams,” Pro Football Weekly reported.

(One reason Los Angeles appealed to Butkus was he planned to become an actor. He began appearing in TV shows such as “Emergency,” “McMillan & Wife,” and “The Rockford Files” in the 1970s. He eventually moved from Chicago to Malibu and spent half his life as a Southern California resident.)

Allen and Butkus hung out together during the Pro Bowl game in January 1970 and then sat together at a Fellowship of Christian Athletes awards banquet at the Century Plaza Hotel in Beverly Hills, fueling speculation a trade was in the works.

Asked about his impressions of the Rams, Butkus told the Los Angeles Times, “The Rams have improved each year since Roman Gabriel has been starting at quarterback. I see the man who has everything. Gabriel leads, reads, and attacks. Most quarterbacks can’t read defenses.”

He also told the newspaper, “I want to stay with the Bears. I hope the situation can be changed because I want to play there. My contract is up and I haven’t signed a new one. I’d like to know that things are going to be better before I do sign.”

The Bears did enough to convince Butkus to stay. He re-signed with them in May 1970. He never did reach the playoffs with them.

The Rams, meanwhile, gave up the second-fewest number of points in the NFL in 1970 and finished 9-4-1, but Allen alienated team owner Dan Reeves and was fired. Reeves told the New York Times, “I had more fun losing.”

Thank you, Mark, at RetroSimba for contributing this piece.