Honoring Mike Ditka: Da Coach

Ditka had his feuds with other teams, which really spiced things up.  It’s that competitive fire that translated from the field to the sidelines.  It was Ditka’s revenge against Bill Walsh and the 49ers that gave the world “The Fridge.”  In the 1984 NFC Championship game, Walsh used 260 pound offensive lineman Guy McIntyre as a blocking back.  The next season, Ditka unveiled William Perry as the fullback against the Niners and “The Fridge” was born.  He went from a rookie defensive tackle that Ryan refused to play into a worldwide sensation.  If Ditka has one regret from that ’85 season, it was that Perry got a touchdown in the Super Bowl rather than Walter Payton.

The Bears, of course, only won that one Super Bowl under Ditka.  Some critics have said that they only won one because of Ditka.  I’d look more to instability in the quarterback position.  Ditka’s teams were the most successful era in the modern era.  The Bears, of course, won the Super Bowl, but also went to the playoffs five straight seasons and 7 of Ditka’s final 9 seasons. Only Papa Bear Halas has a better win percentage than Ditka as head coach with at least 50 games coached.

After a 5-11 season, Ditka was fired in January of 1993:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UYJru-tlkE

During his time as Chicago Bears head coach, Mike Ditka led the Bears to the postseason in seven of his ten seasons, won two Coach of the Year awards, one Super Bowl, and suffered one heart attack, my friend.

Ditka went on to coach the New Orleans Saints from 1997-1999, but his tenure there will be best remembered from trading away his entire draft class for the right to draft Ricky Williams.  Williams could not possibly become the Payton component to the formula.  Of course, he couldn’t reproduce what he had in Chicago.

It was Ditka’s character along the sidelines that led him to become a legend after his playing and coaching career.  In the last of our three part series, we’ll look at Mike Ditka: The Legend.