It seems like the Eagles have always had a great defense, from the days of Chuck Bednarik nearly decapitating Frank Gifford, to when Bill Bergey’s original “Gang Green” scored on the most infamous defensive score ever and then led the Eagles to Super Bowl XV, to the Hall of Fame career of Reggie White and the outstanding defensive effort of his 1991 teammates, to stopping Emmitt Smith and the Cowboys at the peak of their powers not once but twice on 4th and 1.

 

Maybe that’s why it seems like the passing of Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson from cancer at 68 has gone by without relatively much notice in the world of sports, at least for someone with such a tremendous coaching legacy. Maybe we’ve taken him and his defensive teams for granted.

 

If so, that’s unfortunate, because it’s a lock that opposing quarterbacks didn’t take any Johnson-coached defense for granted. In fact, Johnson was one of the best defensive coordinators in recent memory, and the Cold, Hard Football Facts bear this out.

 

Coach Johnson led the Eagles to a decade of defensive dominance, with numbers that jump off the pages of NFL history.

 

From 2000 to 2008, his defense allowed an average of just 17.7 points per game over 144 regular season games. Seven times Philadelphia ranked in the top 10 of league defenses in terms of points allowed, and five times in the top 10 when it came to yardage allowed.

 

In 10 years his attacking defense garnered 426 sacks (second in the NFL behind Pittsburgh’s 429) and scored a solid 27 touchdowns. And as several stories have noted, 11 different Eagles defenders rang up 26 Pro Bowl selections under Johnson's leadership.

 

In 17 playoff games, Johnson’s defenses played just as well as they did during the regular season, allowing 17.5 points per game and scoring 3 touchdowns on their own.

 

But it wasn’t just his players and defenses that did well during his tenure – several young coaches who learned under his tutelage went on to become successful defensive coordinators or head coaches, including Ron Rivera, John Harbaugh, Leslie Frazier and Steve Spagnuolo.

 

When the Giants plastered Tom Brady all over the turf of University of Phoenix Stadium in Super Bowl XLII, you could see Coach Johnson’s fingerprints all over the New York’s disruptive defensive game plan.

 

There may have been defenses that allowed fewer points than Philadelphia during Jim Johnson’s time in the City of Brotherly Love, like Baltimore (just barely), and some of Johnson’s contemporaries are also among the league's best defensive coordinators ever (Pittsburgh’s Dick LeBeau and Tampa Bay’s Monte Kiffin). And all three of those teams capped their defensive prowess with a Super Bowl championship.

 

Although Johnson was reportedly a member of the 1964 AFL champion Bills (CHFF note: we’re researching it, and have yet to find evidence he was) and a defensive assistant for the 1977 Notre Dame national championship team, his Eagles never won a Super Bowl while he was there.

 

But that should not take away from Coach Johnson’s legacy as one of the most feared and respected defensive coordinators that the NFL has ever witnessed.