John Phillip Bengtson (July 17, 1913 – December 18, 1994) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player and coach. He was a longtime assistant coach in

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

and the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL), chiefly remembered as the successor to

Vince Lombardi Vincent Thomas Lombardi (June 11, 1913 – September 3, 1970) was an American football coach and executive in the National Football League (NFL). Lombardi is considered by many to be the greatest coach in football history, and he is recognized a ...

as head coach of the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

in 1968.

Career

Bengtson was a native of

Roseau, Minnesota Roseau () (pronounced row - so) is a city in, and the county seat of, Roseau County, Minnesota. Its population was 2,744 at the time of the 2020 census. History A post office called Roseau has been in operation since 1895. The city took its nam ...

, and played tackle under

Bernie Bierman Bernard W. Bierman (March 11, 1894 – March 7, 1977) was an American football player and coach of football and basketball. He coached from 1919 to 1950 except for a span during World War II when he served in the U.S. armed forces. Bierman was t ...

at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

during the 1930s. In 1934, he earned All-America honors with the

Golden Gophers The Minnesota Golden Gophers (commonly shortened to Gophers) are the college athletics, college sports teams of the University of Minnesota. The university fields a total of 25 (12 men's, 13 women's) teams in both men's and women's sports and com ...

, working in tandem with a player who went to coaching immortality: quarterback Bud Wilkinson. Bengtson took his first assistant coaching job at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

in 1935, but soon returned to his alma mater as line coach, staying through the 1939 season. Beginning in 1940, he moved to

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

, where he served as an assistant coach for 12 years. Bengtson moved to the professional level in 1952 with the nearby

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

. In seven seasons with the Niners, Bengtson served under three head coaches: (

Buck Shaw Lawrence Timothy "Buck" Shaw (March 28, 1899 – March 19, 1977) was an American football player and coach. He was the head coach for Santa Clara Broncos football, Santa Clara University, the California Golden Bears football, University of Califor ...

Red Strader Norman Parker "Red" Strader (December 21, 1902 – May 26, 1956) was an American football player and coach who served in both capacities at the collegiate and professional levels. In the college ranks, he spent two years as head coach at Saint Ma ...

Frankie Albert Frank Cullen Albert (January 27, 1920 – September 4, 2002) was an American gridiron football player and coach. He played as a quarterback with the San Francisco 49ers in the National Football League (NFL). Albert attended Stanford University, ...

) before being dismissed with Albert after the 1958 season. Soon after, he was one of the first four assistants hired in Lombardi's first week with the Packers in early February 1959. Bengtson was the only assistant coach to stay for the entire nine-year tenure of Lombardi (1959–1967). His work as

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator is a coach responsible for a gridiron football (American football) team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, the offensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's c ...

of the Packers established his coaching ability and put him in line to succeed Lombardi. From 1961 to 1967, the Packers captured five NFL titles, and the first two

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...

s. Bengtson replaced Lombardi following the 1967 season; his low-key approach was in sharp contrast to the often-volatile Lombardi. With the aging of key players, this translated into mediocrity for the franchise. Bengtson's Packers were 20–21–1 in his three seasons as head coach. After a 6–8 record in 1970, he was relieved of his duties, replaced by Missouri head coach

Dan Devine Daniel John Devine (December 23, 1924 – May 9, 2002) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Arizona State University from 1955 to 1957, the University of Missouri from 1958 to 1970, and the Univers ...

for the 1971 season. Devine lasted four seasons with the Packers, moving back to the collegiate level at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

following the 1974 season. Lombardi's former quarterback,

Bart Starr Bryan Bartlett Starr (January 9, 1934 – May 26, 2019) was an American professional football quarterback and head coach for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at the University of Alab ...

, became the head coach of the Packers in 1975. Bengtson resurfaced with the

San Diego Chargers 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 franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

and

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

, becoming the interim head coach of the Patriots in late 1972. Later, he was named the team's Director of Pro Scouting, staying through the 1974 season. Bengtson died at age 81 after a long illness at his home in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

on December 18, 1994.

Head coaching record

* ''Interim head coach''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bengtson, Phil 1913 births 1994 deaths People from Roseau, Minnesota American football tackles Green Bay Packers general managers Green Bay Packers head coaches Minnesota Golden Gophers football coaches Minnesota Golden Gophers football players Missouri Tigers football coaches National Football League general managers New England Patriots head coaches New England Patriots coaches San Diego Chargers coaches San Francisco 49ers coaches Stanford Cardinal football coaches Players of American football from Minnesota