FILE — Bill Tobin, director of football operations for the Indianapolis Colts, is shown Jan. 7, 1994 in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy) ORG XMIT: NY153
MICHAEL CONROY/AP
Bill Tobin, a longtime Bears executive who served as the team’s de facto general manager from 1986-92, has died at 83, the Bengals announced Friday.
Tobin worked for the Bears from 1975-1993, during which the Bears won one Super Bowl and made the playoffs nine times.
A former Missouri running back, Tobin became the Bears’ pro scouting director in 1975 and was named player personnel director nine years later.
With Tobin as vice president of personnel — the de facto GM spot — the Bears finished first in their division four times.
While he was with the team, the Bears drafted six Pro Football Hall of Famers.
“Bill was relentless in pursuing a single goal: making the Bears better,” chairman George H. McCaskey said in a statement released by the team. “He had a keen eye for talent and he passionately advocated for players he believed in. He helped build the greatest team in NFL history — the ’85 Bears — and for that we are forever grateful.”
He became the Colts’ GM in 1994, lasting three years, and worked for the Lions before eventually joining the Bengals in 2003. He worked in their scouting office — and for his son Duke, the Bengals’ player personnel director — until 2022.
“He had an eye for players and what they would develop into,” Bengals owner Mike Brown said in a statement. If he said the guy was a good player, then he was a good player; that’s all I would need to know. We will miss him.”