Bill Walsh will undoubtedly go down in NFL history as one of the greatest head coaches to ever walk the sidelines.  The introduction of a totally new offensive system, which in many ways changed the game forever, is his lasting hallmark.  The legion of coaches that followed in his footsteps further cements his legacy.

Oddly enough, I never thought too highly of the "West Coast Offense."  While I understand the general concept of it, I think being a Pittsburgher forces me to have a bias against it.  See, football in this region - from Pop Warner to the Steelers - is dominated by run-heavy offenses and menacing defenses.  Even in high school, it was a mark of honor to have a menacing defense - I remember the 1990 Washington High School football team that was ranked second in the state - before my high school football team played them they had given up a grand total of two touchdowns - all year.  Not to rehash ancient history, but my team (a woeful 1-8 at the time) rolled out an offense they'd never seen nor had any idea how to defense, and we won in an absolutely stunning upset, 28-27.  We didn't use Bill Walsh's West Coast Offense - back in those days, the offense in "vogue" was the run and shoot - we modeled our offense off of Detroit's Silver Streak, and that's how we won the game.  That and the fact that Wash High was overlooking us towards the playoffs, and they simply weren't ready to play.  But all that aside, it's always defense, defense, defense in Pittsburgh, and then when we roll out a smash-mouth brand of offense, the locals utterly love it.  Steeler fans would simply prefer to watch their boys physically dominate the other team, even if it means the final score is a yawning 10-3 or something. 

Great coaches, however, bring some kind of change to the league as a whole.  Vince Lombardi is still the shining example of the NFL's greatest coach, because his teams simply won all of the time.  He preached basics - run the ball and stop the run - and rode that philosophy to many titles.  Chuck Noll won 4 Super Bowl titles with the Steelers, and is in the NFL Hall of Fame, but he doesn't have a vast legion of coaches that followed in his footsteps like Walsh did.  Noll was very much cut from the Lombardi cloth - defense to stop the run and pressure the passer, and an offense that could always run the ball.  Those were Steeler hallmarks in the 70s.

Walsh turned the NFL on its ear with his offense.  The myriad of pass routes ranging mostly from short to intermediate, with a great deal of crossing routes and skinny posts drove defenses nuts.  Considering that Walsh had arguably the game's greatest quarterback at his disposal - and certainly had the game's best-ever wide receiver - meant he could do things with his offense than no one else could duplicate.  People always seem to forget the fact that at its most lethal the West Coast offense was a balanced attack.  The Niners always had great backs, and could grind out the clock with a powerful running game.  But the real trick was that when they lined up - regardless of formation, regardless of personnel on the field - you had literally no idea whether they were going to run or pass.  So you had to defend both - and with the skill and talents that the Niners had...

To this day, I can think of two coaches that really changed the league in some fundamental way, but only Walsh's West Cost Offense has stood the test of time.  His disciples still run variants of his original offense - Philly, for instance.  The other coach that really changed the NFL for a while was Buddy Ryan, but eventually people figured out how to beat the vaunted 46 defense.  But on offense?  Either you are a "traditionalist" - which means that you start the offensive scheme with the running game - or you use a variant of the West Coast Offense - which often means you start the scheme with the passing game.  Both schemes have their strengths and weaknesses, and both schemes allow offenses to win and score points.  The real key point is that Walsh's legacy is still all over the NFL.  From top to bottom, his concepts and offensive philosophy can still be found, even on teams that prefer to start with the running game.  Everyone has a crossing route pattern these days - something that in the 1970s wasn't nearly as prevalent.  Everyone can throw to the fullback.

It's sad to hear that such a legend has been lost.  But, if you really think about, that legend is going to live on for a long time - maybe forever in the NFL.  The NFL mourns the loss of one of its greatest coaches.  Who knows.  In time, it may be Bill Walsh that people consider the greatest coach of all time.  It's certainly within the realm of reason, isn't it?