According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Mike Ditka, the Pro Football Hall of Fame tight end who won a Super Bowl with the Chicago Bears as a coach, passed away Friday, aged 86, his family confirmed.
Mike Ditka was reportedly surrounded by family and friends as he passed away at around 9 a.m., as per Variety. No cause of death was specified in reports by Variety. The family issued a statement saying that to them he was a member of the family, though the world saw him differently.
Ditka was born Michael Keller Ditka in Carnegie, Pennsylvania, and raised in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, playing football, basketball, and baseball there.
He opted to attend the University of Pittsburgh over Notre Dame and Penn State and became a first-team All-American. He was selected by the Bears in the first round of the 1961 NFL draft when the Bears won a coin flip against the Steelers.
Halas drafted Ditka as a blocker but saw that Ditka could be an exceptional pass catcher. In his rookie season in 1961, Ditka caught 56 passes for 1,076 yards and 12 touchdowns, earning him rookie of the year honors. Ditka was named to the Pro Bowl for five consecutive seasons. His record 75 receptions in 1964 would last for 16 years. The Bears won the NFL championship with Ditka on the team in 1963.
Following a falling out with Halas, a trade in 1967 to the Philadelphia Eagles came before four years with the Dallas Cowboys. He made a touchdown catch during Super Bowl VI, which ended up a 24-3 win over the Miami Dolphins. His career ended in 1972 after having amassed a then-record total of 427 receptions by a tight end.
As Ditka worked as an assistant for nine years under Tom Landry in Dallas, all his attention was on the Bears. As mentioned in the Sun-Times, Ditka wrote Halas a letter in 1978 saying that he would eventually return as head coach.
Halas never forgot the letter, and in 1982, after back-to-back losing seasons, he fired Neil Armstrong and hired Ditka. The decision was perfect since general manager Jim Finks had managed to build a team with great talents alongside established players such as Richard Dent and Jimbo Covert.
In 1984, Chicago made it all the way to the NFC Championship Game with a 10-6 record. The next year saw the Bears go 15-1, including a 46-10 thrashing of the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XX. Headed by players such as Walter Payton, Jim McMahon, Mike Singletary, and William "The Refrigerator" Perry, players carried Ditka off the field.
In the space of 11 years, Ditka guided the Bears to the postseason seven times and the conference championship game three times.
However, that '85 Bears team is still considered one of the greatest ever, and it is the start of a stretch of eight years during which Chicago would post a record of 90-37. Nonetheless, Ditka never got back to the Super Bowl, being fired following a 5-11 season in 1992. Ditka spent three years coaching the New Orleans Saints between 1997 and 1999.
In 1988, Ditka became the first tight end inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. According to Jim Porter, the president of the Hall, Ditka was not only a tough player during the physical era of the game but also a much more adept pass receiver than people realized.
The mustache, sideline antics, and blue-collar work ethic made Ditka a cult pop icon; he even became part of the "Superfans" sketch on Saturday Night Live.
Ditka has been a commentator for ESPN and other media networks. His health issues, including heart attacks and a mild stroke in 2012, prevented him from attending Bears games, such as Steve McMichael's 2024 Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
