Greg Landry, former Pro Bowl quarterback and coach, dies at 77

Greg Landry, who made a Pro Bowl in the NFL before working as an assistant coach at both the professional and college levels, has died. He was 77.

The Detroit Lions announced his passing Friday. Landry spent most of his career with the franchise, which drafted him in the first round of the 1968 NFL Draft out of UMass. He made the 1971 Pro Bowl and earned First Team All-Pro honors, but injuries got in the way from there.

“We join the NFL community in mourning the loss of former Lions quarterback and coach Greg Landry,” the Lions wrote on social media.

During that 1971 season, Landry threw for 2,237 yards and 16 touchdowns while adding 530 yards and three touchdowns on the ground. That helped him not only earn the lone Pro Bowl appearance of his career, but a ninth-place finish in the MVP voting.

Injuries got in the way from there, though. But in 1976, Landry earned the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year award after an impressive bounce-back season as he threw for 2,191 yards and 17 touchdowns. A year later, though, he found himself benched and later headed to with the Baltimore Colts from 1979-81. After two years in the USFL with the Chicago Blitz and Arizona Wranglers, Landry ended his career with the Chicago Bears in 1984.

All told, during his NFL career, Landry recorded 16,052 passing yards and 98 touchdowns to go with 2,655 rushing yards and 21 touchdowns on the ground. After he retired as a player, he then got into coaching.

Landry started out as the Cleveland Browns’ quarterbacks coach in 1985 before joining the Bears’ staff in 1986. He spent six years in Chicago – starting out as quarterbacks, wide receivers and tight ends coach from 1986-88 before moving up to offensive coordinator from 1988-92 – and two years with Illinois. He then ended his time as a coach with two seasons on the Lions’ staff from 1995-96.