The other Neill Armstrong

[BD Sullivan]

Who had an additional "l" in his first name to differentiate. Still, he would have had to have been a football legend to come close in name recognition to that other guy.

Instead, Neill played five seasons with the Eagles from 1947-51, catching 76 passes and scoring 11 touchdowns.

He became an assistant for two seasons with the OIlers in 1962, before coaching in the CFL (Edmonton) from 1964-69. Bud Grant hired him with the Vikes, where he stayed for eight seasons. In his four seasons as Bears HC, he was 30-34, with his 1979 going 10-6 to play in the NFC Wild Card game. He then finished up with eight years as a Cowboys assistant from 1982-89.

[nicefellow31]

Bears didn't have a good record in '81 and I recall the local sports radio guy in D.C., Ken Beatrice, said that Bears fans were saying "we sent the wrong Neil to the Moon." At the same time Ron Erhadt was having a worse season and he said Patriots fans were call in "Ron Airhead". So every time I hear about either Neil Armstrongs I recall that bit on the radio.

[74_75_78_79_]

I respected that '81 Bears team despite their losing record. They beat SD early on, gave Dallas a good enough game on Turkey Day, and spoiled-up Denver's playoff aspirations in the finale. EVERY team in that NFC Central was at least real respectable in '81.

In an earlier post, talking about the Bears@Steelers '80 match, Staubach was one of the commentators and he said during the game that he met NeilL at a hotel conference and thought he was...well, you know. He asked him about the Moon and then NeilL corrected him and then said that he gets that all the time.