The Draw Play

Mike Ditka.

For a long time Mike Ditka has been a sort of personal barometer I use to describe someone who is “special-interest” famous. Basically, to anyone within that fandom/niche/ingroup, this person is a legend. To anyone outside that group, they may have never heard of them. Someone like Charles Martinet to Nintendo fans or Eddie Merckx to cycling fans. Anyone who knows football knows Mike Ditka. He had maybe the most identifiable aura of any football guy with the thick mustache, BEARS sweatervest, and big fat cigar. He was the platonic ideal of the old football guy.

Dikta came into the league as a Tight End for Chicago back in 1961 and helped revolutionize the position by knowing how to catch the ball. He was the rookie of the year and helped the Bears win the 1963 NFL Championship. He played for the Bears until 1967, then spent two years in Philly, followed by a few more years in Dallas, where he met Tom Landry. Landry would help him move into coaching upon his retirement.

He spent years under Landry as an assistant and eventually got the Bears job in ‘82. It was there he’d get paired with Buddy Ryan as Defensive Coordinator, something Buddy was very…Buddy about. Buddy wanted the gig and was passed over, so he was an asshole to Ditka. Whatever happened worked though, and the combo got the team to the Bears only Super Bowl victory. Neither of them managed to do it alone. Ditka would get slight revenge over Buddy in the Fog Bowl a few years later.

The…less favorable part of his coaching career came after a brief broadcasting hiatus. He went to the Saints, where he led the team to 3 mediocre years, and his most notable accomplishment was being on the cover of ESPN magazine pretending to marry Ricky Williams after the Saints traded every single 1999 draft pick to Washington to draft him. He was fired and went back to his cozy role as talking head. He became a fixture on ESPN.

In 1988 he was inducted into the Hall of Fame as the first-ever Tight End to receive the honor.

You can’t escape Ditka’s influence on football culture to this day. The tough guy persona. Chicago still sells the iconic sweatervest or T-Shirt recreations of it. He remains the face of the ‘85 Bears in spite of all the other talents in that building such as The Fridge, Sweetness or Singletary. When you think of Bears football, that mustache and sweater is going to be the first image in your head even now, 40 years later.

Rest in peace Iron Mike. Go give Buddy Ryan a good left hook for us.