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The Fearsome Foursome was the dominating defensive line of the Los Angeles Rams of the 1960s and 1970s. Before them, the term had occasionally been applied to other defensive lines in the National Football League.
In the 1957 season the New York Daily News , a major New York city tabloid, ran an article and sketches of the New York Giants' line consisting of ends Andy Robustelli and Jim Katcavage, and tackles Rosey Grier and Dick Modzelewski and a headline that read "A Fearsome Foursome."
The nickname "Fearsome Foursome" was first regularly used to describe the American Football League's San Diego Chargers' defensive front four, including starters DE Ron Nery, DT Bill Hudson, DT Ernie Ladd, and DE Earl Faison. The Chargers moved to San Diego in 1961, and Faison made overall AFL Rookie of the Year, a rare feat for a defensive player. Alternate members of the group included DE Bob Petrich, DT George Gross, and DE-DT Henry Schmidt. At the time Gross and Ladd were two of the largest and strongest men in professional football. The Chargers' Foursome helped them reach the first two American Football League Championship games and five altogether, winning the AFL Championship in 1963 with a 51-10 thumping of the Boston Patriots.
The nickname "Fearsome Foursome" was later used to describe the 1962 Detroit Lions line of Roger Brown, Alex Karras, Darris McCord, and Sam Williams.
The original Detroit Lions "Fearsome Foursome" included Bill Glass, not Sam Williams, who came later after Glass was traded to the Browns. The use of the term "Fearsome Foursome" for the Lions front four predates that of the San Diego Chargers set. Lions announcer Van Patrick coined the term for the Lions front four as early as 1960 when the Lion defensive line consisted of Bill Glass, Darris McCord, ends, and tackles Alex Karras and Roger Brown.
Still later, Rosey Grier was acquired from the New York Giants in 1963 to join Lamar Lundy, Merlin Olsen and Deacon Jones as the Los Angeles Rams starting defensive line. They also became known as the Fearsome Foursome, and the greater publicity garnered by the NFL leads many to assume they were the originals. Dick Butkus called them "the most dominant line in football history." [1] They gained fame as the Rams went from a perennial under .500 team to an NFL powerhouse under coach George Allen. Roger Brown replaced Grier in 1967, and Diron Talbert replaced Brown in 1970. Also in 1970 Coy Bacon replaced Lamar Lundy.
The line was ultimately broken up when George Allen became coach of the Washington Redskins in 1971; Talbert and Jones left in 1972, with Talbert following Allen to the Redskins, and Jones going to the Chargers for two years before eventually reuniting with Allen himself on the Redskins in 1974. Bacon left in 1973. After missing the playoffs from 1970 to 1972, the Rams won seven straight division titles from 1973 to 1979, which was an NFL record until 2016 when broken by the New England Patriots. Those Rams teams were led in part by a reconstituted Fearsome Foursome.
This line consisted of ends Jack Youngblood and Fred Dryer, and tackles Olsen and Larry Brooks. Youngblood and Olsen are NFL Hall of Famers while Brooks made the Pro Bowl 5 times. Dryer, acquired from the Giants in 1972, also made the Pro Bowl once, and set an NFL record with 2 safeties in one game vs. the Packers. Olsen, who played with his brother Phil Olsen for 4 seasons from 1971 to 1974, retired after a 15-year career at the end of the 1976 season. He was replaced by Mike Fanning, who with Youngblood, Dryer and Brooks started in Super Bowl XIV following the 1979 season.
The line was documented in NFL Network's A Football Life, and was narrated by Josh Charles. [2]
Earl Faison was an American football player who played in the American Football League (AFL) between 1960 and 1966.
Roosevelt Grier is an American actor, singer, Protestant minister, and former professional football player. He was a notable college football player for Pennsylvania State University who earned a retrospective place in the National Collegiate Athletic Association 100th anniversary list of 100 most influential student athletes. As a professional player, Grier was a member of the New York Giants and the original Fearsome Foursome of the Los Angeles Rams. He played in the Pro Bowl twice.
David D. "Deacon" Jones was an American professional football player who was a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL) for the Los Angeles Rams, San Diego Chargers, and the Washington Redskins. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1980.
John Frederick Dryer is an American actor, radio host, screenwriter and former American football defensive end in the National Football League (NFL).
George Herbert Allen was an American football coach. He served as the head coach for two teams in the National Football League (NFL), the Los Angeles Rams from 1966 to 1970 and the Washington Redskins from 1971 to 1977. Allen led his teams to winning records in all 12 of his seasons as an NFL head coach, compiling an overall regular-season record of 116–47–5. Seven of his teams qualified for the NFL playoffs, including the 1972 Washington Redskins, who reached Super Bowl VII, losing to Don Shula's Miami Dolphins. Allen made a brief return as head coach of the Rams in 1978, but was fired before the regular season commenced.
Merlin Jay Olsen was an American football player, announcer, and actor. For his entire 15-year professional football career he was a defensive tackle with the Los Angeles Rams in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected to play in the Pro Bowl 14 times — every year but his last. The only other football players to have matched that number are the former offensive lineman Bruce Matthews, the former tight end Tony Gonzalez, and the former quarterback Peyton Manning.
The 1992 NFL season was the 73rd regular season of the National Football League. Due to the damage caused by Hurricane Andrew, the New England Patriots at Miami Dolphins game that was scheduled for September 6 at Joe Robbie Stadium was rescheduled to October 18. Both teams originally had that weekend off. This marked the first time since the 1966 NFL season and the AFL seasons of 1966 and 1967 that there were byes in week 1; in those years, byes were necessary every week since there were an odd number of teams, which would happen again between 1999 and 2001. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Dolphins also had their 2017 season opener postponed due to Hurricane Irma.
Lander McCoy Bacon was a professional American football defensive lineman in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys, Los Angeles Rams, San Diego Chargers, Cincinnati Bengals and Washington Redskins. He also was a member of the Washington Federals in the United States Football League. He was selected to three Pro Bowls during his 14-year career. While quarterback sacks were not an official statistic during his career, researchers credit Bacon with a career total of 130. He played college football at Jackson State University.
Lawrence Lee Brooks Sr. is a former American football defensive tackle. Brooks was drafted in the 14th round of the 1972 NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Rams after playing college football at Virginia State University. He was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 2000.
Roger Lee Brown was an American professional football player who was a defensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Maryland State College before playing professionally for the Detroit Lions (1960–1966) and Los Angeles Rams (1967–1969).
Lamar J. Lundy, Jr. was an American defensive end with the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League for 13 seasons, from 1957 to 1969. Along with Deacon Jones, Merlin Olsen, and Rosey Grier, Lundy was a member of the Fearsome Foursome, often considered one of the best defensive lines in NFL history. All four also did some acting; Lundy portrayed the boulder-hurling cyclops in the unaired pilot of Lost in Space.
Darris Paul McCord was an American football player. He played college football for the University of Tennessee where he was selected by the Football Writers Association of America as a first-team All-American tackle in 1954. He played professional football in the National Football League (NFL), principally as a defensive end for the Detroit Lions for 13 years from 1955 to 1967. He was a member of the 1957 Detroit Lions team that won the NFL championship and was selected to play in the Pro Bowl that year. At the time of his retirement, his 168 games with the Lions was a franchise record.
The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the team had played the 1960 season. The team is now known as the Los Angeles Chargers.
The 1975 Los Angeles Rams season was the team's 38th year with the National Football League, and the 30th season in Los Angeles.
William Alex Hudson was an American football defensive tackle and unheralded member of the original Fearsome Foursome of defensive linemen in pro football. He attended Clemson University, where he was a member of the track and football teams. He played professionally in the Canadian Football League with the Montreal Alouettes and in the American Football League with the San Diego Chargers and the Boston Patriots. He is a member of the South Carolina Sports Hall of Fame.
George Gross was an American football defensive tackle. He played professionally in the American Football League (AFL) for five seasons, from 1963 to 1967, with the San Diego Chargers. He joined the Chargers' outstanding defensive line, known as the "Fearsome Foursome", playing with defensive ends Bob Petrich and Earl Faison and defensive tackle Ernie Ladd. Gross was born in Vajola, Romania and died in Fairhope, Alabama.
Caraun Reid is an American football defensive tackle who is a free agent. He was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the fifth round of the 2014 NFL Draft. He played college football at Princeton. He has also been a member of the San Diego Chargers, Washington Redskins, Indianapolis Colts, and Dallas Cowboys.
Jack Earl Teele was an American football executive and sportswriter. He served as an executive for thirty-one seasons in the National Football League (NFL), including twenty-one with the Los Angeles Rams and ten with the San Diego Chargers, and two in the World League of American Football (WLAF) with the Barcelona Dragons.
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