RetroSimba

Even when the St. Louis football Cardinals didn’t play well, Larry Wilson could make them winners.

A prime example occurred on Oct. 31, 1966, when the Cardinals played the Chicago Bears at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

Cardinals quarterback Charley Johnson completed a mere four passes in the game, Bears running back Gale Sayers threw for nearly as many yards (39) as Johnson did (47) and the Bears totaled 282 yards compared with 166 for the Cardinals, but St. Louis won, 24-17.

The difference was Wilson, the Cardinals’ wiry safety. He intercepted three passes, returning one for a touchdown, setting up another score and preventing the Bears from mounting a late rally.

“If there’s a finer defensive back in pro football, I’d like to see him,” a grateful Charley Johnson told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “Larry plays 100 percent all the time and doesn’t know there’s any other way.”

Super safety

Wilson was born and raised in Rigby, Idaho, a small town about 95 miles from Yellowstone National Park. His mother died when he was a boy and his father, a truck driver, continued to care for him.

An accomplished prep athlete, Wilson wanted to play football at Idaho State, but his father convinced him to take a chance at a larger school, Utah, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Wilson played offense and defense at Utah, excelling as a running back and cornerback. At nights, he worked as a watchman at the Salt Lake City zoo.

The Cardinals selected Wilson in the seventh round of the 1960 NFL draft, but he also got an offer from the Buffalo Bills of the fledgling AFL. Wilson was close to signing with the Bills for $10,000, the Post-Dispatch reported, but when they refused his request for an additional $500 bonus, he chose the Cardinals.

Cornerback was Wilson’s initial position with the Cardinals, but he flopped and shifted to safety.

His big break came in 1961 when assistant coach Chuck Drulis designed a defense featuring a safety blitz. Wilson was as adept at pressuring and sacking the quarterback as he was at picking off passes.

After the debut of the safety blitz in the 1961 season opener against the New York Giants, Cardinals defensive back Jimmy Hill told Wilson, “You played a whale of a game. We’re going to call you Wildcat Wilson,” the Post Dispatch reported.

The name stuck. The safety blitz became known as wildcat in the Cardinals’ playbook and Wildcat Wilson was the player who did it best.

According to Bob Broeg of the Post-Dispatch, Wilson said the safety blitz required a player with “the soul of a linebacker” and “the mentality of a mule.”

Bring on the Bears

In 1966, Wilson was in his prime. A year earlier, he secured his place in NFL lore when he intercepted a pass while both of his fractured hands were in casts.

Wilson had five interceptions in the first seven games of 1966 heading into the Week 8 Monday night matchup against the Bears.

The Bears’ quarterback was Rudy Bukich, who was born and raised in St. Louis.

After the Cardinals went ahead, 7-0, on a three-yard rushing touchdown by rookie Johnny Roland, Wilson intercepted a Bukich sideline lob to Sayers and returned the ball to the Bears’ 18-yard line. Soon after, Roland scored again on another three-yard carry and the Cardinals led, 14-0.

The Cardinals harassed Bukich with a stunting, blitzing defense and he was sacked four times in the first half. He played most of the game with his throwing hand taped after he jammed it in the first quarter, “but refused to use the injury as an alibi” for the passes intercepted by Wilson, the Chicago Tribune reported.

After Wilson’s first interception, Bears assistant coach Luke Johnsos led Bukich to a remote corner of the bench and talked quietly with him. He told Bukich to call audibles when he noticed the Cardinals’ defense shifting, the Tribune reported.

“We knew they’d do a lot stunting with their linemen and blitzing with the linebackers,” Johnsos said.

A one-yard plunge into the end zone by Bukich in the second quarter made the score 14-7 and the Bears got within three, 14-10, with a field goal in the third.

Difference maker

The Cardinals had planned to throw often against the Bears, the Post-Dispatch reported, but changed course because Johnson was misfiring. He said, “I’ve had bad games, but none as bad, so far as mechanically throwing the ball … I just didn’t have control of the ball.”

Early in the fourth quarter, Johnson did get a pass to tight end Jackie Smith, who would have scored, but Smith dropped the ball. The Cardinals settled for a field goal and a 17-10 lead.

The Bears responded with an 80-yard completion from Bukich to Dick Gordon for an apparent touchdown to tie, but the play was nullified by a holding penalty.

Said Bears head coach George Halas, whose club was penalized nine times: “The Cardinals should award the game ball to one of the officials … I am amazed at the bad officiating.”

On the Bears’ next possession, Bukich again looked to Gordon, who ran a down-and-out pattern, but Wilson cut in front of the receiver, intercepted the ball and returned it 29 yards for a touchdown and a 24-10 lead.

Wilson’s scoring play provided the margin of victory. The Bears got within seven, 24-17, when Sayers snared a pass from Bukich and went 80 yards for a touchdown.

According to the Tribune, after making the catch, “Sayers, covered by linebacker Bill Koman in the flat, spun out of Koman’s arms and outdistanced a flock of Cardinals in a 60-yard race for the goal.”

After stopping the Cardinals, the Bears looked to drive for another score, but Wilson ended their hopes with his third interception.

“He’s unreal,” Cardinals kicker Jim Bakken said. “Nobody could hang in the air as he did for that third interception.” Game stats and Video

Wilson finished with a career-high 10 interceptions in 14 games in 1966, helping ensure his eventual election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.