Roberts was hired as Fears' successor, and in his first game, Tom Dempsey kicked an NFL-record 63-yard field goal to give the Saints a 19-17 victory over the Detroit Lions, New Orleans' only other win of 1970. Eagles, WFL and USFL He resurfaced in 1971, serving as offensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles, but when head coach Ed Khayat (Fears' defensive line coach in New Orleans) was fired at the end of the 1972 NFL season, Fears was out of work again. After spending 1973 off the gridiron, Fears was named head coach of the fledgling World Football League's Southern California Sun on January 14, 1974. The fragile financial condition of the entire league resulted in Fears leading the team for less than two years before the WFL folded in October 1975. Fears's disappointment was soothed somewhat when he was named to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1976, the same year he was named president of the All-Sports Council of Southern California, which helped amateur sports in the area. One year later, he returned to coaching as an assistant at San Bernardino Junior College. During this period, he was also working as a technical adviser for movies with a football connection, and in 1979, began a football scouting service. The two roles came together in controversial fashion when Fears began working on the production of "North Dallas Forty", a film that took a look at the sordid side of the professional game. Fears had three clients: the Packers, Houston Oilers and Pittsburgh Steelers, but after the movie was released, Fears saw all three teams drop his services. Claiming that the NFL had blacklisted him, Fears spoke with league commissioner Pete Rozelle (who had worked for the Rams during Fears's playing days), but never again found work in the league. Remaining on the fringes of the sport, Fears in 1980 worked as a coach for the Chapman College club football team, then became a part-owner of the Orange Empire Outlaws of the California Football League the following year. In 1982, he was hired as player personnel director of the new United States Football League's Los Angeles Express. Bolstered by huge spending from team owner William Daniels, the team reached the conference championship game, but saw financial troubles doom not only the team, but the league as well. Fears's final position in football came in 1990, when he was named