Dick Vermeil saved Philadelphia Eagles football.
That is not hyperbole. When Vermeil was hired prior to the 1976 season, the franchise was perhaps the worst in the NFL, a laughing stock, and had been for the better part of a generation. Following their NFL championship over the Green Bay Packers in 1960, the Eagles went 10-4 in ‘61 and then proceeded to have a winning record just once over the next 16 seasons. They finished in last place seven times and won four games or fewer seven times.
That was the situation Dick Vermeil walked into when he was hired away from UCLA.