Miami’s defense was one of the more dominant units in the NFL, ranking statistically among the top seven defenses in 1979, 1982, and 1983, including No. 1 in the league in ’82. They helped lead Miami to Super Bowls appearances after the 1982 and ’84 seasons, but fell short of their goal of winning the Lombardi Trophy both times. The “Killer B’s” had two things in common with another great Dolphins defense before them, the “No-Name Defense” of the Super Bowl teams in the early 1970s – they were both coached by defensive guru Bill Arnsparger and they both had colorful nicknames. But unlike the group before them, the “Killer B’s” took much greater advantage of their popularity commercially.
The TV show “Saturday Night Live” had an impact on two sets of nicknames surrounding the 1980s defense. First, safeties (and brothers) Glenn and Lyle Blackwood began to call themselves “The Bruise Brothers,” a takeoff on the “Blues Brothers” skit that John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd popularized on “SNL,” even going so far to produce a poster with both of them wearing suits, sunglasses and hats in a style similar to the garb worn by Belushi and Aykroyd on the show. Shortly after that, in 1982, a sportswriter covering the team noticed that the last names of six of the eleven starters – DE Doug Betters, NT Bob Baumhower, DE Kim Bokamper, LB Bob Brudzinski (Bru’s), SS Glenn Blackwood and FS Lyle Blackwood – all began with the letter B. Galvanized by that coincidence, and perhaps also prodded by another popular Saturday Night Live skit featuring Belushi and Gilda Radner dressed in bee costumes, he coined the nickname “Killer B’s” for the unit. The moniker stuck, especially since the defense continued its stellar play all the way to the Super Bowl that year, as well as the next few seasons, including a return trip to that game in 1984. The “Killer B’s” had some pretty good players; Betters was named as the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1983, and no less than four of them (Baumhower, Bokamper, Betters and honorary member A.J. Duhe) earned Pro Bowl honors.
As the team continued to win, the nickname gained traction, and it wasn’t long before the entire unit was getting some commercial offers. Late in the ’82 season, the “Killer B’s” recorded a song, and they were the first to admit they weren’t going to threaten Frank Sinatra or anyone else for a spot on the music charts. And taking a page from the “Bruise Brothers” poster, they got two requests to make a “Killer B’s” poster themselves. The one you see in this story featured Bokamper, Baumhower, Betters, Bowser, Brudzinski and the Blackwood brothers and was produced without a hitch. The other poster, entitled “Beefense” provided a little drama. It was shot at the team’s practice facility at St. Thomas University, and featured both Blackwoods elevated by cables attached to the goalpost. Frighteningly, one of the cables snapped and Lyle Blackwood tumbled to the ground. Fortunately he was OK, but the poster accomplished what few teams did that season – it scared the “Killer B’s.”