Mike Ditka, the Hall of Fame tight end who became a Chicago icon as the only head coach to lead the Bears to a Super Bowl title, has died at 86.
Ditka took over the Bears in 1982 after owner George Halas hired him to turn around a struggling franchise. He delivered, guiding Chicago to seven playoff appearances and three NFC Championship Games in 11 seasons, including the 1985 team that steamrolled the New England Patriots 46-10 in Super Bowl XX.
“It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved husband, father, grandfather, and friend, Mike Ditka,” his family said in a statement. “While the world knew Mike as a Hall of Fame football player, legendary coach, and leader of the Chicago Bears’ Super Bowl XX championship team, we knew him as the heart of our family.”
“Mike will be missed beyond measure and remembered forever.”
Known to Bears fans as “Da Coach,” Ditka built a reputation for sideline intensity, trading shouting matches with players and assistants while standing arms-folded in his sleeveless “Bears” sweater at a time when head coaches still wore ties on game day.
Before he coached, he played. The Bears took Ditka fifth overall in the 1961 NFL draft, and he won Rookie of the Year after becoming the first tight end to top 1,000 receiving yards in a season. He spent six seasons with the Bears, two with the Philadelphia Eagles, and four with the Dallas Cowboys, winning an NFL championship with Chicago in 1963 and Super Bowl VI with Dallas. In 1988 he became the first tight end inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The Bears dismissed Ditka as head coach in 1992. He later took over the New Orleans Saints, where he made the notorious trade of eight draft picks, including two first-rounders, to the Washington franchise for the rights to running back Ricky Williams. The gamble did not pay off for either man in New Orleans.
By then Ditka’s larger-than-life persona had outgrown football itself, inspiring the Saturday Night Live sketch “Bill Swerski’s Superfans,” a send-up of Chicago fans who worshipped “Da Coach.”
After coaching, Ditka moved into broadcasting, working as an analyst for NBC and then ESPN, where he was part of Sunday NFL Countdown from 2006 to 2015.
