Abe Gibron Abraham " Abe " Gibron ( September 22 , 1925 – September 23 , 1997 ) was a professional American football player and coach . Gibron played 11 seasons as a guard in the All - America Football Conference ( AAFC ) and National Football League ( NFL ) in the 1940s and 1950s , mostly with the Cleveland Browns . He was then hired as an assistant coach for the NFL ' s Washington Redskins and Chicago Bears before becoming head coach of the Bears between 1972 and 1974 . Gibron grew up in Indiana , where he was a standout athlete in high school . After graduating , he spent two years in the U . S . military during World War II , enrolling at Valparaiso University upon his discharge . He later transferred to Purdue University , where he played football for two years and was named an All - Big Ten Conference guard . Gibron ' s professional career began in 1949 with the Buffalo Bills of the AAFC . The league dissolved after that season , however , and he moved to the Browns in the NFL . While he was initially a substitute , Gibron developed into a strong lineman on Cleveland teams that won NFL championships in 1950 , 1954 and 1955 behind an offensive attack that featured quarterback Otto Graham , end Dante Lavelli and tackle Lou Groza . He was named to the Pro Bowl , the NFL ' s all - star game , each year between 1952 and 1955 . After short stints with the Philadelphia Eagles and the Bears , Gibron ended his playing career and got into coaching . He served first as a line coach for the Redskins for five years , and then in a similar role for the Bears beginning in 1965 . He rose to become Bears ' defensive coordinator in the early 1970s , and was named head coach in 1972 , replacing Jim Dooley . Gibron ' s three years leading the Bears were unsuccessful , however . His teams posted a combined win – loss – tie record of 11 – 30 – 1 over three seasons . Gibron was fired in 1974 , and spent the following year as coach of the Chicago Winds , a team in the short - lived World Football League . Gibron , who was known for his colorful personality and large size – he ballooned to more than 300 pounds as a coach – spent seven seasons as an assistant with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before retiring from coaching . He stayed close to the game , however , by serving as a scout for the Seattle Seahawks in the late 1980s and as an advisor to the Buccaneers in the early 1990s . He died after suffering a series of strokes in 1997 . Early life and college . Gibron was born in Michigan City , Indiana to Lebanese immigrant parents and attended Elston High School there . Gibron was the captain of his high school football team and was named an All - Northern Indiana Athletic Conference player . After graduating in 1943 , Gibron joined the United States Marine Corps during World War II . Gibron left the military as the war ended in 1945 , however , enrolling at Valparaiso University in Valparaiso , Indiana . He played his freshman year of college football there and was captain of the team , which finished the season with a 6 – 1 win – loss record and won the Indiana Intercollegiate Conference championship under head coach Loren Ellis . Gibron was named an All - Conference guard and was an honorable mention Little College All - America n . Gibron transferred to Purdue University in West Lafayette , Indiana in 1946 . He played there between 1946 and 1948 , making the varsity team twice . Purdue had a losing record in each of those years , but Gibron was named an All - Big Ten Conference player and an honorable mention All - American . Professional career . Gibron was selected by the Buffalo Bills in the first round of a secret draft held in 1948 by the All - America Football Conference ( AAFC ) . The AAFC organized the draft for players expected to graduate in 1949 so that its teams could begin wooing their selections before the rival National Football League ( NFL ) had its draft the following year . The NFL ' s New York Giants also selected Gibron in the sixth round of the 1949 draft , but he chose to play for the Bills instead . Buffalo posted a 5 – 5 – 2 win – loss – tie record in 1949 , Gibron ' s only season with the team . That record made Bills the last - ranked team in a four - team Shaughnessy playoff held at the end of the season . The playoff was instituted after the AAFC ' s financial struggles led to the consolidation of its divisions that year . The Bills lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Cleveland Browns , and subsequently lost to the Chicago Hornets in a game for third place . The AAFC dissolved after the season , and the Browns , San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Colts were absorbed into the NFL . Gibron was selected as a second - team All - Pro by sportswriters after the season and was named the AAFC ' s rookie lineman of the year . In 1950 , players from the AAFC ' s defunct teams – including the Bills – went into a dispersal draft . Gibron , however , was sold along with halfback Rex Bumgardner and defensive tackle John Kissell to the Browns in a deal that gave Bills owner James Breuil a 25 % share in the team . In the Browns , Gibron joined a team that had won all of the AAFC ' s four championships behind an offense that featured quarterback Otto Graham , fullback Marion Motley and end s Mac Speedie and Dante Lavelli . Yet while the Browns had been the league ' s best team , many sportswriters and owners doubted that the team would continue its string of success against NFL teams starting in 1950 . Cleveland started the season by beating the previous year ' s NFL champion Philadelphia Eagles and went on to win the NFL championship over the Los Angeles Rams . Cleveland finished the 1951 season with an 11 – 1 record and again reached the championship game , but lost this time to the Rams . Gibron was used primarily as a messenger guard early in his career – primarily as a substitute used to send plays in to the quarterback – but later developed into an anchor of Cleveland ' s offensive line , helping protect Graham and open up space for the team ' s backs to run . The team again reached the NFL championship game in 1952 and again lost to the Detroit Lions . Gibron , who was unusually quick for his large size , was selected to play in the Pro Bowl , the league all - star game , after the season . He was also named a second - team All - Pro by sportswriters . Another championship game appearance and loss to the Lions followed in 1953 , when Gibron was again named to the Pro Bowl and was selected to one sportswriter ' s first - team All - Pro list . The Browns came back in 1954 and 1955 to win championships against the Lions and Rams . Gibron was named to the Pro Bowl both of those years and was a first - team All - Pro in 1955 . Gibron played part of the 1956 season for the Browns , but he suffered a leg injury and was cut in November to make room on the roster for rookie Don Goss . The Philadelphia Eagles signed him two weeks later to replace Norm Willey , who was out with a broken leg . The Eagles finished with losing records in both 1956 and 1957 , Gibron ' s last year with the team . Gibron finished his playing career with the Chicago Bears , who signed him in 1958 . The Bears had an 8 – 4 record in both of Gibron ' s seasons there , but the team did not advance to the NFL championship game . Over his 11 - season career , Gibron played in 116 games and started nine of them , all in his first season in Buffalo . Coaching career . Shortly after Gibron ended his playing career , Washington Redskins head coach Mike Nixon hired him as his line coach . Washington finished with a 1 – 9 – 2 record in 1960 and Nixon was replaced by Bill McPeak , but Gibron stayed in his position under the new coach . Gibron remained in Washington through the 1964 season . Gibron next returned to Chicago in 1965 to serve as the Bears ' offensive line coach as part of a rebuilding project by team owner and head coach George Halas following a losing season in 1964 - only the seventh in franchise history . The Bears finished with a 9 – 5 record in 1965 , but struggled in 1966 and 1967 , Halas ' s final two seasons as the Bears ' coach . Gibron was seen as a successful coach , and was courted in 1966 to be head coach of the Miami Dolphins of the American Football League but turned down the offer . After Halas resigned , Gibron continued as an assistant under new head coach Jim Dooley in 1968 . He switched to coaching the defensive line the following year when assistant coach Joe Fortunato resigned and Jim Ringo was hired to coach the offensive line . Dooley , however , was dismissed in late 1971 after three consecutive losing seasons , including a 1 – 13 record in 1969 . Gibron was elevated to head coach the following January and said the team had the talent to make a run at the NFL championship . It was initially thought that Gibron would make good on his promise to deliver a championship to Chicago ; he was regarded as one of the best line coaches in the game . However , he inherited a Bears team in the midst of a generational transition . Running back Gale Sayers , who had anchored Chicago ' s offense during the mid - to late - 1960s , had suffered two knee injuries and was forced to retire during training camp in 1972 . Star linebacker Dick Butkus was also hobbled by knee injuries and had to retire nine games into the 1973 season . Quarterback Bobby Douglass ran for 968 yards in 1972 , setting an NFL record for quarterbacks , but passed for only 1 , 246 yards . In his three seasons , the Bears compiled an 11 – 30 – 1 record , finishing last in the NFC Central each time . His . 268 winning percentage is the worst for a non - interim coach in Bears history . Gibron was fired two days after the final game of the 1974 NFL season . Halas hired Jim Finks as the Bears ' general manager in 1974 to formulate a new strategy following the 4 – 10 record the Bears compiled in Gibron ' s last season . Chicago had the fourth overall pick in the 1975 NFL Draft , using it to select future all - time rushing leader Walter Payton . Gibron stayed in Chicago in 1975 , replacing Babe Parilli as head coach of the World Football League ' s Chicago Winds . The Winds got out to a 1 – 4 record before they were expelled from the league in September for falling below league financial requirements , a month before the entire league folded . Gibron was hired in 1976 as a defensive line coach with the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers , but was switched to defensive coordinator that March before returning to serve as line coach in later years . He had been a college teammate of Bucs head coach John McKay at Purdue . Gibron stayed in Tampa for seven seasons until McKay retired in early 1985 and was replaced by Leeman Bennett . He then served as a scout for the Seattle Seahawks by head coach Chuck Knox , and was accused later in the year of spying on the Cincinnati Bengals and attempting to steal their signals . Knox responded by saying Gibron ' s presence at a preseason game in Cincinnati could not have been a secret , given his large size . He stayed on as a scout until 1989 , and later worked as an advisor to Bucs coach Sam Wyche . While he was not successful as a head coach , Gibron was renowned for his colorful personality and immense appetite throughout his career . He weighed about 250 pounds during his playing career , but quickly ballooned to over 300 pounds as a coach . " Every time you went to dinner , it was a banquet " , Browns teammate Lou Groza said of him . Buccaneer player Charley Hannah once said after dining with him , " He was eating things we wouldn ' t even go swimming with in Alabama " . A humorous clip of Gibron singing Joy to the World on the sidelines during a 1973 game against Denver was made famous by NFL Films in " Football Follies " . Gibron played himself in the critically acclaimed 1971 TV movie " Brian ' s Song " , the story of Chicago Bears teammates Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers . Later life and death . As his coaching career was drawing to a close in 1984 , Gibron ' s teenage son James struck and killed a woman from Largo , Florida while driving drunk . James pleaded no contest to manslaughter charges and was tried as an adult , but the verdict was overturned on appeal . He eventually got 10 years of probation and went on to become a lawyer in Florida . Gibron was taken to the hospital in 1985 with severe abdominal pains and later had surgery to remove a brain tumor . Gibron suffered strokes in December 1996 and February 1997 that confined him to his home for the remainder of his life . He died at home in Belleair , Florida . Gibron and his wife , Susie , had three children . Gibron was inducted into the Indiana Football Hall of Fame in 1976 .