Mike Ditka

The 1961 Chicago Bears offensive line in action: "Bears Workout at Soldier Field for Armed Forces game Friday"; Ditka is far left

Ditka was selected by the Chicago Bears fifth overall in the 1961 NFL Draft, while the Houston Oilers drafted him eighth overall in the first round of the 1961 AFL Draft. He signed with the Bears and his presence was immediately felt. In his first season, Ditka had 58 receptions, introducing a new dimension to a tight end position that had previously been dedicated to blocking. He also scored 12 receiving touchdowns, which was the most by a Bears rookie.[13] His success earned him Rookie of the Year honors. He continued to play for the Bears for the next five years, earning a Pro Bowl trip each season.

Ditka on a 1963 Topps card

He played on the 1963 NFL championship team. Many of the players from that team, including Ditka, were drafted by assistant coach George Allen, a future Hall of Famer, who was then in charge of the Bears' drafts. During the season, against the Los Angeles Rams, Ditka tied Harlon Hill's franchise record for the most receiving touchdowns in a game with four.[13] Ditka ranks first among tight ends and fourth in Bears history with 4,503 yards, fifth in both receptions (316) and touchdown catches (34).[14]

In 1962, he started all 14 games, making 58 receptions (tied for the team lead) for 904 yards (led the team) and five receiving touchdowns (led the team). In 1963, he led the team with 59 catches for 794 yards and eight touchdowns.

In 1964, he was second on the team with 75 receptions for 897 yards and five touchdowns. The next year, he posted 36 receptions (second on the team), 454 receiving yards (third on the team), and two receiving touchdowns (tied for fourth on the team).

In 1966, he registered 32 receptions (second on the team), 378 yards (third on the team) and two touchdowns (tied for second on the team). Ditka was also noted for decking football fan Felix Carbajal, who had run onto the playing field late in a Week 2 31–17 loss to the Rams at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on September 16.[15] He had played out his option that season after not being able to reach a contract agreement with Bears' owner/head coach George Halas.

On February 8, 1967, The New York Times reported that just before the AFL–NFL merger, Ditka had signed a $300,000 contract with a $50,000 signing bonus with the Houston Oilers, the team that owned his AFL draft rights.[16][17][18]

On April 26, 1967, Ditka was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles along with a 1968 fourth-round pick (#106-Alan Bush), in exchange for quarterback Jack Concannon. The transaction was intended to fill roster vacancies created by the retirements of Eagles' tight end Pete Retzlaff and Bears' quarterback Rudy Bukich.[19] His Oilers contract was transferred to the Eagles and Ditka was able to keep his $50,000 bonus to avoid any legal conflicts.[20] His time as a Bears player bitterly came to an end with a parting shot in which he stated that Halas "threw nickels around like manhole covers."[18] He wore number 98 in his first season with the Eagles, while only playing in nine games with four starts because of injuries.[21] Ditka was outplayed by tight end Jim Kelly, registering 26 receptions for 274 yards and two touchdowns.

In 1968, he changed his jersey number back to his usual 89. He appeared in 11 games with six starts, and his statistics were below tight end Fred Hill. He posted 13 receptions for 111 yards and two touchdowns.

On January 28, 1969, he was traded to the Dallas Cowboys in exchange for wide receiver Dave McDaniels.[22] Pettis Norman ended up being named the starting tight end, but Ditka still was able to play in 12 games with four starts, while making 17 receptions for 268 yards and three touchdowns.

In 1970, he remained a reserve player behind Norman. He appeared in 14 games, while tallying eight receptions for 98 yards and no touchdowns. The Cowboys reached their first Super Bowl, losing 13–16 against the Baltimore Colts, by way of a field goal scored with five seconds left in regulation time.

In 1971, he was a backup player behind Billy Truax, appearing in 14 games with four starts. He set the franchise record for tight ends with 30 receptions in a season, while also compiling 360 receiving yards, one touchdown, and three kickoff returns for 30 yards. His highlight was a touchdown reception in the Cowboys' 24–3 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl VI.

In 1972, he was named the starter at tight end, after Truax was limited by off-season knee surgery. He started all 14 games, posting 17 receptions for 198 yards and one touchdown, while alternating in some passing situations with rookie Jean Fugett.

On March 1, 1973, Ditka announced his retirement as a player, opening the door for him to be named the Cowboys wide receiver assistant coach under head coach Tom Landry.[23] At the time, his 427 receptions were the most by a tight end in NFL history.

In 1988,[24] his blocking and 427 career receptions for 5,812 yards and 43 touchdowns earned him the honor of being the first tight end inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.[14] Ditka also scored two touchdowns on offensive fumble recoveries, tying seven other players for the most in NFL history. In 1999, he was ranked number 90 on The Sporting News's list of the 100 Greatest Football Players.

After firing previous coach Neill Armstrong following the 1981 season, Halas decided to take Ditka up on his offer from several years earlier, and hired him to become the team's head coach for 1982 season. Although the Bears had made the playoffs under Armstrong and his predecessor Jack Pardee, those were the only two winning seasons since Halas' retirement as coach, so he was looking for a coach who would bring the Bears back to prominence. Shortly after his hiring, as recounted by Mike Singletary in 2006, Ditka called a team meeting. In the meeting, he warned that the team would experience some turnover, but if they were all willing to work hard for him and stand with him, Ditka promised a trip to the Super Bowl within three seasons.[25] Specifically, Ditka said, "Give me three years, and if you walk with me, we'll get to the dance."[26]

By his third season, Ditka led the Bears to the NFC Championship Game, where the Bears were shut out by the eventual Super Bowl-winning 49ers in San Francisco. The following year, Ditka's coaching career hit its pinnacle on January 26, 1986, with a 46–10 win over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XX at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans. Ditka has stated that one of his biggest regrets in life was not letting Walter Payton score a touchdown in the Super Bowl, instead opting for Jim McMahon to run it in twice and rookie defensive tackle William "The Refrigerator" Perry to run it in once. Nevertheless, Ditka has contended that his reluctance to give Payton the ball was justified on account of the disproportionately heavy coverage the Bears' star running back faced from the Patriots' defense, and insisted that Payton's mere presence on the field was a decisive factor in the Bears' crushing victory notwithstanding personal statistics.

In 1985, Ditka led the Bears to a 15–1 record, and he was named NFL Coach of the Year by the Associated Press following the regular season.[27] Football commentators widely regard the 1985 Bears defense as one of the best. It was masterminded by defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan, with little oversight from Ditka; in fact, Ditka and Ryan had a largely adversarial relationship dating back to Ditka's hiring as Ryan, who was already on the coaching staff when Ditka joined the Bears, felt that he should have been promoted into the head-coaching position. Although the two men continued to work together, the relationship continued to deteriorate, and with the Bears trailing by three touchdowns in a late-season Monday-night game against the Miami Dolphins that resulted in the team's only loss, Ryan finally snapped after Ditka, as he recounted in 2006 for NFL Network, told him that the defensive scheme was not working. The two began throwing punches at each other and had to be separated, and Ditka said that the relationship at that point became unsalvageable. In an unusual gesture, following the Bears Super Bowl victory, the players carried both Ryan and Ditka off the field. In addition, the 1985 Chicago Bears are one of several teams to consistently challenge the undefeated 1972 Dolphins for the unofficial title of the "Greatest NFL Team of All-Time".[28] The NFL Network series America's Game rated the 1985 Bears as the second-best Super Bowl champion, only behind the 1972 Miami Dolphins.

Buddy Ryan left in 1986 to become the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. When asked if he was happy Ryan was gone, Ditka replied he was not happy, but "elated". In 1986, 1987, and 1988, the Bears won the Central Division title and earned three home playoff games. The first of those years saw the Bears finish the regular season with a 14–2 record to tie the New York Giants for the best in the entire league. However, the Bears were upset by the Washington Redskins in their first playoff game. The next year, the Bears finished second in the NFC with an 11–4 record, but were again upended by the Redskins en route to that team's second Super Bowl victory of the decade. The Bears finished 12–4 in 1988 and got homefield advantage. They defeated Ryan's Eagles in the Fog Bowl in their first game, but the team was defeated by the 49ers in the NFC championship game. This was the third time in five years that Ditka led the Bears to the NFC championship game, and was the last time they advanced this far until 2006.

Ditka suffered a heart attack during the 1988 season, which he attributed to stress since he was in excellent physical condition and had no significant family history of heart disease. However, despite being expected to miss much of the season, Ditka was on the sidelines as an "advisor" the next week and back in full charge the week after. He led the Bears to a 12–4 record and received his second coach of the year award from the AP.[29]

The Bears started 4–0 in 1989, but a series of last-second losses eventually led to a complete meltdown at the end of the season, as the Bears finished 6–10. The Bears rallied to win a weak Central Division in 1990 and make the playoffs as a wild card in 1991, but were eliminated convincingly in the early rounds. After dropping to 5–11 in the 1992 season, the Bears fired Ditka on January 5, 1993. His 106 wins are the second-most in Bears history, behind only Halas.[13]

On December 9, 2013, Ditka's Bears jersey, number 89, was retired in a halftime ceremony during a Monday Night Football game in Chicago as the Bears hosted the Dallas Cowboys, for whom Ditka also played and worked as an assistant coach under the late Tom Landry. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, and go Bears!" Ditka told the crowd.[30]

In 1997, after a five-year absence in which he had served as a television analyst, Ditka returned to the NFL to take over as the permanent replacement for Jim Mora with the New Orleans Saints. Ditka inherited a team that had not made the playoffs, nor had recorded a record above .500, since 1992, and had finished the 1996 season, during which Mora had resigned, tied with the Atlanta Falcons for the second-worst record in the league (only the New York Jets, who only won once, had a worse record).

In Ditka's first season back in the league, he struggled early, as the Saints lost four of their first five games. They did manage to beat his former team, the Bears, along the way, and recorded five more wins, but after winning only one game in the division (even being swept by the last-place St. Louis Rams), the Saints finished at 6–10.

Ditka's team played more inconsistently in 1998, as the Saints started out 3–0, but could not keep the momentum going. Still, they were in playoff contention toward the end of the season, and defeated the eventual NFC East champions in Ditka's other former squad, the Cowboys, to get to 6–7 with three games to go. They dropped their last three, though, and were eliminated in week 16 on a last-second field goal against the Arizona Cardinals.

Then, in the offseason that followed, Ditka was roundly criticized for the trading of all of the team's 1999 draft picks (plus their first-round draft pick in 2000) to the Washington Redskins to move up in the draft and select Texas running back Ricky Williams (Washington later used the picks to select future All-Pro and Hall of Famer Champ Bailey, Jon Jansen, and LaVar Arrington). The trade was further mocked because of a magazine cover in which Ditka posed with Williams, who was wearing a wedding dress.[31]

The 1999 season proved to be the worst of Ditka's coaching career. After winning the season opener against the Carolina Panthers, the Saints dropped their next seven games, including a loss to the expansion Cleveland Browns. As the season wore on, Ditka's frustrations began showing in the local media. After a late-season practice with the team sitting at 2–7, a grumpy Ditka gave a sixty-second press conference where he was very short tempered and dismissive of what he thought were stupid questions. When one of them made it a point to ask him why he was so angry, Ditka responded by saying "what do you care?", and then followed up by saying to the reporter "if you were 2-7, you'd be in a bad mood too." Ditka would take one more question before muttering to the reporters, "not very much fun, is it?", then going inside.[32]

The low point of the season came three weeks later in a loss to the Falcons, which was the Saints' 10th in 11 weeks. Ditka came into the postgame press conference appearing emotionally exhausted, and said he felt his charges “broke” him. He then said the Saints would be better off hiring someone else to coach the team, claiming he was the "wrong guy" to lead them and that "[he] didn't have it anymore", saying "God puts people in places for reasons, and he probably put me here to be humbled. I deserve it."

Ditka said that he did not feel the Saints had much talent on the offensive side of the field, blaming himself for that and saying that he had let the players down by not having them ready. He also cited the Saints’ lack of playmaking ability, as they dropped several passes and failed to take advantage of three Falcons fumbles while turning the ball over seven times themselves. Ditka was asked if he felt the team had quit on him, which he denied; however, when he was asked if he was thinking about leaving immediately he responded affirmatively. However, Ditka also said that he would not do it unless he knew for certain he would be fired before the end of the year. Before leaving the press conference, the defeated Ditka called himself a "hypocrite" and said the entire exercise was "silly".

After two more losses, Ditka and the Saints faced the 7–7 Cowboys in their home finale on Christmas Eve. Ditka chose to give the start to Jake Delhomme, his third-string quarterback. In his first NFL start, Delhomme threw for two touchdowns and ran for a third, and Fred Weary took a forced fumble 56 yards for the game-winning score, as the Saints knocked off the Cowboys, 31–24. This proved to be Ditka's final victory as a head coach; after a 45–13 loss to the Panthers the following week left the Saints with a 3–13 record and their seventh consecutive nonwinning season, Ditka and general manager Bill Kuharich were fired on January 6, 2000.

Over a total of 14 seasons as a head coach, Ditka amassed a regular-season record of 121–95 and a postseason record of 6–6.

Ditka is known for his vocal conservative views. In July 2004, Ditka, a self-described "ultra-ultra-ultra conservative",[69] was reportedly considering running against the Democratic candidate, state senator Barack Obama, for an open seat in the U.S. Senate for Illinois in the 2004 Senate election. The seat was being vacated by Peter Fitzgerald, a Republican, and Republican nominee Jack Ryan withdrew from the race amid controversy at the end of June, leaving the Republicans in a bind. Local and national political leaders, from Illinois Republican Party Chair Judy Baar Topinka to National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair Sen. George Allen, whose father by the same name was an assistant coach with the Bears in the 1960s when Ditka played, met with Ditka in an effort to persuade him to fill the spot on the ticket. On July 14, however, Ditka announced he would not seek the nomination, citing personal and business considerations. His wife was against the run and he operates a chain of restaurants.[70] Obama went on to defeat the eventual Republican candidate, former U.S. ambassador Alan Keyes, in a landslide in the November 2004 election. Ditka has since regretted not running. Ditka believes that Obama never would have been elected president if Ditka had run against Obama for Senate in 2004, and claims that Obama is the worst president in United States history.[71]

In stark contrast to the above-stated positions, Ditka appeared in an ad during the 2010 Illinois gubernatorial election for incumbent Democratic governor Pat Quinn. In the ad, Ditka stated that, "[D]oing the right thing for the people who put you in office is more important than what you can do for yourself in office ... and I think he'll do that. I think he understands that ... and I think he's good people." Quinn, at the time, was locked into a tight race against State Senator Bill Brady, a conservative Republican from Bloomington. Quinn would go on to narrowly defeat Brady. Four years later, in 2014, Ditka appeared in a televised campaign ad for Quinn's Republican challenger, Bruce Rauner, who defeated Quinn in the general election.[72]

In October 2011, Ditka and the 1985 team went to the White House after they did not attend in 1986 due to the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. He presented President Obama with a Chicago Bears jersey with the number 85 on it with "Obama" on the back of it.[73]

Ditka was a vocal supporter of Donald Trump's election campaign, saying "I support Trump all the way. I really do."[74]

Some of Ditka's comments, most notably regarding former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick's national anthem protests, have garnered controversy due to Ditka's position with ESPN. Under the network's new social media policy (implemented in late 2017 in the wake of Curt Schilling's firing and Jemele Hill's suspension),[75] Ditka is to refrain from making controversial statements, but made a series of remarks in late 2017 that drew widespread criticism. In a September interview with a Dallas-based radio station, Ditka was critical of Kaepernick's protests, saying "I think it's a problem. Anybody who disrespects this country and the flag. If they don't like the country they don't like our flag, get the hell out."[76] In the same interview, Ditka was dismissive of social issues in America, saying "I don't see all the atrocities going on in this country that people say are going on, I see opportunities if people want to look for opportunity – now if they don't want to look for them – then you can find problems with anything, but this is the land of opportunity because you can be anything you want to be if you work. If you don't work, that's a different problem."[76]

One of Ditka's more controversial remarks came in October 2018 during a Bears/Vikings pregame show, when he said he did not believe that there was any oppression in America for the last 100 years: "There has been no oppression in the last 100 years that I know of. Now maybe I'm not watching it as carefully as other people."[77] Ditka immediately came under criticism for his comments from many sources, including former New York Jets star and fellow Beaver County, Pennsylvania native Joe Namath, who said that Ditka needed to "look up the meaning of oppression. Look up the definition of oppression, and you understand that it's obviously taken place,"[78] as well as from columnists at the Chicago Sun-Times who said Ditka was "not a Chicagoan"[79] and "a white man who is blind to the plight of people of color in this country."[80] The NFL distanced itself from Ditka's comments, saying, "Everyone's entitled to an opinion. The league would not express that opinion, by any stretch of the imagination."[81] Ditka quickly clarified his remarks in a release, apologizing to anyone who may have been offended by his comments: "The characterization of the statement that I made does not reflect the context of the question that I was answering and certainly does not reflect my views throughout my lifetime. I have absolutely seen oppression in society in the last 100 years and I am completely intolerant of any discrimination."[81]