Remembering Super Bowl Champion Coach and Hall of Fame Tight End Mike Ditka

Mike Ditka, who passed away today just nine days before his 87th birthday, is perhaps best known as the coach of the dominant 1985 Chicago Bears team that won Super Bowl XX, but he was also one of the greatest tight ends in pro football history. Ditka was the first tight end inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame (1988), and he was also selected to both the NFL's 75th Anniversary Team (1994) and the NFL's 100th Anniversary Team (2019).

Ditka had a successful college career at the University of Pittsburgh, leading the team in receptions in all three of his varsity seasons (1958-60) while being named an unanimous First Team All-America selection in 1960, when he also finished sixth in Heisman Trophy balloting. Ditka was inducted in the College Football Hall of Fame in 1986.

The Chicago Bears selected Ditka with the fifth overall pick in the 1961 NFL Draft, while the Houston Oilers chose him with the eighth overall pick in the 1961 AFL Draft. Ditka signed with the Bears, and in 1961 he set the NFL's rookie tight end records for receptions (56), receiving yards (1076), and touchdowns (12) when the NFL season lasted just 14 games; he led all NFL tight ends in all three categories that season. Ditka was the first NFL tight end to have at least 1000 yards receiving and at least 12 receiving touchdowns in the same season, a feat that more than 60 years later has only been matched by four players: Todd Christensen (1983), Rob Gronkowski (2011, 2014), Jimmy Graham (2013), and Travis Kelce (2022). Ditka still holds the rookie record for touchdowns by a tight end, his rookie tight ends reception record stood until 1988, and his rookie tight ends yardage record lasted until 2024. The longevity of those records is remarkable considering not only that the NFL season was later lengthened but also that Ditka played in a run-dominant era before rules changes opened up the passing game in 1978 and again in the 2000s. 

Ditka led all NFL tight ends in receptions in each of his first four seasons. The Bears went 11-1-2 in 1963 before beating the New York Giants 14-10 to win the NFL Championship. Ditka led that team in receptions (59), receiving yards (794), receiving touchdowns (eight), and scoring (48 points) while earning the first of back to back AP All-Pro First Team selections. 

Ditka felt that the Bears did not compensate him adequately for his production, declaring that owner George Halas "threw nickels around like manhole covers." The Bears traded Ditka to the Eagles in 1967 and he had two forgettable seasons in Philadelphia before being traded to Dallas. He did not post eye-popping numbers with the Cowboys, but he started all three of their playoff games in 1971 as the Cowboys won a Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history, defeating Miami 24-3 in Super Bowl VI. 

Ditka retired after the 1972 season and joined Tom Landry's staff as a special teams/receivers coach, a position that Ditka held in Dallas for nine seasons (1973-81) as the Cowboys reached the Super Bowl three times, including a 27-10 win over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XII. 

After the Bears won the 1963 NFL title, they missed the playoffs from 1964-76 and went 0-1 in the playoffs in 1977 and 1979. When the Bears hired Ditka as their head coach in 1982, he inherited a 6-10 club that went 3-6 under his direction during the strike-shortened 1982 campaign. The Bears improved quickly, going 8-8 in 1983 and then 10-6 in 1984 when they captured the first of five straight NFC Central Division titles. Under Ditka, the Bears reached reached the NFC Championship game three times, and won Super Bowl XX by the biggest margin in Super Bowl history at that time, routing the New England Patriots 46-10. That 1985 championship team is famous for the "Super Bowl Shuffle" video that the players made during the season, and for going 15-1 before winning their three playoff games by a combined margin of 91-10, including shutouts in two NFC playoff games before the Super Bowl. Defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan was a mastermind. Doug Plank, who played safety for the Bears, said that Ryan was playing chess with his defensive strategies. The Bears' legendary "46" defense featured Hall of Famers Mike Singletary, Richard Dent, Dan Hampton, and Steve McMichael and led the league in fewest points allowed during the regular season (198). The underrated offense with Jim McMahon at quarterback and Walter Payton (1551 rushing yards, third best in the NFL) at running back ranked second in the NFL in scoring (456 points, just 11 behind the "Air Coryell" San Diego Chargers). Even if you weren't a Bears fan, that team was fun to watch (unless they were pounding the daylights out of your favorite team). I was a freshman in high school at that time, and I must say that more than 40 years later I still consider the 1985 Bears one of the greatest and most entertaining NFL teams I have ever seen.

Ditka was not a man prone to regrets, but one regret that he admitted publicly is that he did not make sure that Payton scored a touchdown in the Super Bowl; in a goal line situation late in the third quarter with the Bears ahead 37-3, the Bears gave the ball to defensive lineman William "Refrigerator" Perry instead of Payton, who at that time was the NFL's all-time leader in rushing yards and who later held the all-time rushing touchdowns record for nine years. Although Perry scored three rushing touchdowns during the regular season, many people--including Payton himself--thought that the play should have been designed for Payton. Ditka later said,  "It never, ever crossed my mind. Now is that wrong of me? Yes, probably. It should've crossed my mind, but it didn't. I didn't think it would ever mean anything to, I think, the greatest Bear ever. But then it did, so I was wrong. That, I regret a lot. I really do regret it a lot, because I didn't realize it was important to him, and it was very important to him."

Ditka was twice selected as the AP NFL Coach of the Year (1985, 1988) but all good things must end, and the Bears fired him after a 5-11 season in 1992, just one year after the debut of the famous "Saturday Night Live" skit about "Da Bears" that is still fondly remembered to this day.

Ditka spent four years as a football commentator for NBC Sports before returning to the sidelines in 1997 to coach the New Orleans Saints. The Saints did not come close to having a winning season with Ditka at the helm and they fired him after three losing seasons. That period is most remembered for the Saints' infamous decision to trade all of their draft picks for 1999 and 2000 in exchange for the number five pick in the 1999 NFL Draft, which they used to select running back Ricky Williams. Williams rushed for 884 yards as a rookie in Ditka's final season on the sidelines. Williams won the 2002 NFL rushing title with the Miami Dolphins and he finished his career with five 1000 yards seasons and 10,009 career rushing yards, but it is impossible to build a winning team after trading away that much draft capital. 

After his coaching career ended, Ditka became a popular NFL commentator on ESPN. He was known for his direct manner of speaking as both a coach and as a commentator. Perhaps the best example of this is what he told the Bears' players after becoming the team's coach in 1982: "I've got good news and bad news. The good news is we're going to the Super Bowl. The bad news is half of you guys won't be here when we do." Ditka was blunt--and he was right: the 1985 Super Bowl champion Bears had just 14 players who had been on the team in 1981, the year before Ditka became the team's coach.

Mike Ditka will be remembered as a Chicago icon, an all-time great tight end, and the coach of one of the NFL's greatest single season teams.

The Browns Need a New Coach and a New Quarterback

On the cusp of making (or, to be precise, matching) NFL history by going 0-16, the Cleveland Browns fired top football executive Sashi Brown and replaced him with John Dorsey, who did not hesitate to offer a very honest public statement about Sashi Brown's performance: "I'll come straight out with it. The guys who were here before, that system, they didn't get real players."

"That system" is a not so veiled dig at the analytics-driven decisions made by Brown and his cohorts. Dorsey has a valid point about the overall player evaluation process conducted by the previous regime but--to the extent that Dorsey is providing cover for Coach Hue Jackson, who currently sports a 1-30 record with the Browns--it is important to make it very clear that while the Browns do not have a playoff caliber roster they also most emphatically do not have an 0-15 caliber roster, either.

Sports llustrated's Andy Benoit makes a detailed and compelling argument that with proper coaching the Browns would be a lot better than 0-15:

The Browns have one of the NFL’s better offensive lines. They have a quality thunder and lightning backfield with Isaiah Crowell and Duke Johnson. They have an athletic first-round rookie tight end, David Njoku. Their receiving corps needs help, but with second-year man Corey Coleman healthy and Josh Gordon back, it's no longer in dire straits. Defensively, the linebacking trio of Christian Kirksey, Joe Schobert and (when healthy) Jamie Collins is one of football's fastest. The defensive line is adequate and getting better, given the flashes from 2017 No. 1 overall pick Myles Garrett. The secondary, a sieve in 2016 because of poor safety play, has improved after the arrivals of first-round rookie Jabrill Peppers and veteran corner Jason McCourty, as well as the progress made by 27-year-old CB Jamar Taylor. This is a roster that, frankly, should be somewhere between 4-12 and 6-10, not on the cusp of joining the winless 2008 Lions in infamy.

Cleveland's biggest problem is the players have not been put in position to succeed--most notably on offense, and specifically at quarterback. Second-round rookie DeShone Kizer has the tools to become a quality starter. He's physically capable of making 500-level throws at the deep-intermediate levels. He's tough in the pocket. He's athletic and mobile. Yes, he's raw, and his inconsistent precision accuracy is troubling (that issue rarely corrects itself). But quarterbacks with greater flaws have had successful NFL careers.

I made a similar point about Jackson's ineptitude last season:

A well coached team is disciplined and the players are always in the right position, even if the players lack the size, strength and/or speed to complete the play; the 2016 Browns are not just a bad team but they are a team that demonstrably lacks discipline and does not execute properly. CBS color commentator Solomon Wilcots repeatedly pointed out that the Browns should be double-teaming (San Diego tight end Antonio) Gates. The coach is responsible for the product on the field; if Jackson is giving the right instructions but the players are not executing then he needs to put different players on the field: the bottom line is that whatever happens on the field has either been taught by the coach or is being permitted to happen by the coach.

Hall of Fame Coach Bill Walsh, who built the San Francisco 49ers from also-rans into three-time Super Bowl champions, once explained how long it should take to build a good NFL team and how that process should work: "I am often asked how long it should take to turn an NFL franchise around. My short answer is: three years. Not every team will win the Super Bowl in its third season under a new coach (as we did in San Francisco in 1981) but it is reasonable to expect at least some signs of improvement by that time...There are reasons why some teams are able to remain competitive year after year while others never seem to get over the hump...My point is that it takes a concerted commitment from ownership, the front office, the coaching staff and the players for a team to succeed. It's the old 'a-chain-is-only-as-strong-as-its-weakest-link-theory' theory. If one of the four areas is weak, it's extremely difficult to overcome that flaw."

The Browns have been an awful team for the better part of two decades because the front office has been clueless, most of the coaches have been mediocre at best/incompetent at worst and the franchise has never prioritized the acquisition--and nurturing--of a top notch quarterback.

The Browns will likely go 0-16 this season but, with the right decision making process, they could be a playoff team in three years, provided that Dorsey (1) fires Coach Jackson and replaces him with a real NFL head coach, (2) acquires a very good/great quarterback and puts the proper structure/playmakers around that quarterback and (3) transforms the culture of the franchise from a culture that expects/accepts losing to one that demands winning results. Jackson may be a nice guy and a decent assistant coach but he has proven that he is not a championship-level coach--and the Browns should replace him with a coach who can ultimately win a championship. Likewise, as Benoit noted it is possible that Kizer could be molded into an adequate quarterback but it is unlikely that Kizer will ever be an elite quarterback. The coach-quarterback duo is essential to long-term NFL success, as proven by perennial contenders such as New England and Pittsburgh.

When Mike Ditka was hired to be the Chicago Bears' head coach, he met with the players and told them that he had some good news and some bad news: the good news was that the Bears would win a Super Bowl but the bad news was that most of the people in the room would not be with the team when they won. That is the attitude that Dorsey, his next head coach and their next starting quarterback must personify in order for the Browns to become a competitive NFL team instead of being a laughingstock.

"Football is Chess"

Rich Cohen's new book Monsters: The 1985 Chicago Bears and the Wild Heart of Football provides a behind the scenes account of one of the most dominating teams in NFL history. In a Wall Street Journal excerpt, Cohen explains that the 15-1, Super Bowl champion Bears faced their greatest challenge not on game days but rather in practice when their offense battled the innovative "46 Defense" invented by defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan. Coach Mike Ditka constantly feuded with Ryan but Ditka could not fire Ryan because Ryan had cut a special deal with Bears' owner George Halas.

Cohen, using insight gathered from an interview with Chicago safety Doug Plank, describes how Ryan's defense wreaked so much havoc:

"Buddy operated by numbers," Plank said. "There were no names. You were either an adjective, and not a very complimentary one, or you were the number on your jersey. I was 46. Being a number was an honor. It meant you weren't an adjective. Here comes this master sergeant from the Korean War and he started to develop and encourage pride in being part of a special unit, a defensive squad."

In his first years in Chicago, Ryan was coaching mostly mediocre players. On many days, the Bears were outclassed. To compete, he had to improvise. "He was experimenting with defenses," Plank said. "He was going wild, looking for some way to generate a pass rush. You'd go into a meeting and see a bunch of crazy formations on the board. He'd go through each and say, 'OK, here's what we're going to try.' And someone would say, 'What do you call it?' Buddy didn't use X's and O's.

"When he put things on the board, it was numbers. He named formations after the number in the center of the formation. So one morning we go in and sure enough there's a new defense with my number in the middle: the 46."

In the standard 4-3 defensive alignment, the offense's center usually wasn't "covered," meaning no one lined up directly in front of him. This usually allowed the center to double-team a pass-rusher. But Ryan moved a linebacker to the line of scrimmage, then shifted Plank into the gap left by that linebacker. This meant none of Ryan's rushers could be double-teamed.

On a blitz in Ryan's defense, another linebacker or safety might creep up to the line and hide behind a big defensive end. As a result, there were often more rushers than blockers, which is why, in 1985, it often looked as if the Bears had too many players on the field. Buddy called the hidden blitzers free runners. "Confuse the offense until they have no idea where you're coming from--that is what creates a free runner," Plank said. "A free runner is an unblocked defensive player, and he gets to the quarterback so much faster...When a free runner hits the quarterback, the quarterback flies through the air."

In fulfilling an age-old playground fantasy, Ryan had decided to hell with it, and seemingly sent all his guys after the quarterback with a simple mission: Nail him. Rather than try to cover everyone, Ryan decided to short-circuit the offense by taking out the quarterback. As boxers used to say: Kill the brain, and the body will follow.

"Football is chess," Plank said. "You can capture all my pawns, but if I tip over that king, I win."

Plank's analogy is apropos on more than one level: football and chess are both very strategically complex games and football and chess are both very violent games. The latter assertion may seem dubious to anyone who has only played chess casually with friends/relatives but tournament chess is violent, as noted by Grandmaster Lubomir Kavalek:

It doesn't hurt your body, but your brain, your ego. Instead of concussions chess players suffer humiliation after a terrible loss. They start to question their confidence, doubting the worthiness of what they do.  
 
Opposing quarterbacks had to stay strong in the face of the way that Ryan's defense sought to "kill the brain" and tournament chess players face a similarly daunting challenge: they must stay mentally and emotionally strong to avoid having their brains killed by the stresses and strains imposed by hours of relentless competition.