DETROIT — Greg Landry, the longtime Detroit Lions quarterback who later joined the Chicago Bears as an assistant under coach Mike Ditka, has died. He was 77.
The Lions announced Landry’s death on social media Friday. No cause of death was given.
“We join the NFL community in mourning the loss of former Lions quarterback and coach Greg Landry,” the team said in its posting.
Landry played in the NFL from 1968-81 with the Lions and then-Baltimore Colts. After two seasons in the USFL, he returned to the NFL and played one game with the Bears. He threw for 16,052 yards in his NFL career with 98 touchdowns and 103 interceptions. He was also was one of the best running quarterbacks in NFL history, gaining more than 2,600 yards with 21 TDs.
The Lions selected Landry with the 11th pick of the 1968 NFL draft out of Massachusetts. He played 11 seasons with the Lions and had a career record of 40-41-3 with Detroit. His finest season with the team came in 1971, when the threw for 2,237 yards and 16 touchdowns and was a first-team All-Pro and made his only Pro Bowl.
In 1976, he earned the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year award after passing for 2,191 yards and 17 touchdowns.
Landry was traded to Baltimore and played three seasons with the Colts, going 3-10-1. He then moved to the USFL and played one season each with the Chicago Blitz (1983) and the Arizona Wranglers (1984). He was an emergency starter for the Bears — against the Lions — in 1984.
Landry joined Ditka’s staff in 1986 as quarterbacks and receivers coach before he was promoted to offensive coordinator in 1989, a job he held for four years. When the Bears fired Ditka after the 1992 season, Landry interviewed for the head-coaching vacancy, but then-President Michael McCaskey hired Dave Wannstedt, and Landry was let go along with defensive coordinator Vince Tobin.
A month later Landry was hired as Illinois offensive coordinator on coach Lou Tepper’s staff but lasted only two years in Champaign before being fired in February 1995. Landry rejoined the Lions later that year as quarterbacks coach under Wayne Fontes.
From Nashua, N.H., Landry led UMass in passing for three seasons and was the team’s top rusher and scorer in 1965 and 1967. He was inducted into the UMass Hall of Fame in 1980.