Mike Ditka, 1939-2026: His 5 Greatest Moments

Mike Ditka has died at 86. His family announced his death on Friday, Oct. 9, 9 days before what would have been his 87th birthday. "Mike will be missed beyond measure and remembered forever," the family said.

Most people under 50 know him as the mustache, the sweater vest, the scowl on the sideline and the guy Saturday Night Live called "Da Coach." But before any of that, Mike Ditka was the player who changed what a tight end was. Before him, the position was mostly a 6th blocker who caught the occasional pass. After him, it was a weapon.

He won the 1963 NFL championship as a Bears player and Super Bowl XX as the Bears' head coach, and in between he won a Super Bowl as a Cowboys player and another as a Cowboys assistant. These are the 5 moments that made him.

5. The rookie who reinvented the position

1961: 56 catches, 1,076 yards, 12 touchdowns. Rookie of the Year.

He was born Michael Dyczko in Carnegie, Pa., grew up in the steel town of Aliquippa and played his college ball at Pitt. In the 1961 drafts, the Bears took him 5th overall and the AFL's Houston Oilers took him 8th. He picked George Halas and the Bears.

Then he did something no tight end had ever done. He went over 1,000 receiving yards, the first player at the position to do it, and caught 12 touchdown passes. He was named the NFL's Rookie of the Year and made the Pro Bowl. More than 60 years later, no rookie tight end has caught more touchdowns.

His rookie card is 1962 Topps #17, and he's wearing No. 82 on it, not the No. 89 he made famous.

4. The run

Nov. 24, 1963, at Forbes Field: a 63-yard catch-and-run that saved a championship season.

It was 2 days after President Kennedy was assassinated, and the NFL played anyway. The Bears were in Pittsburgh, trailing the Steelers 17-14 in the 4th quarter, and a loss could have cost them the Western Conference.

Bill Wade threw Ditka a short pass. Ditka caught it and simply refused to go down. He shed 3 Steelers at once, then ran through a string of others, until Clendon Thomas finally dragged him down from behind, deep in Steelers territory. It went for 63 yards. Roger LeClerc kicked an 18-yard field goal, and the game ended in a 17-17 tie. People who saw it still call it the greatest play of his career.

The Bears finished 11-1-2. On Dec. 29, 1963, at Wrigley Field, they beat the New York Giants 14-10 for the NFL championship. It was the last title George Halas ever won.

3. The last touchdown of Super Bowl VI

Jan. 16, 1972, Tulane Stadium, New Orleans. Cowboys 24, Dolphins 3.

Ditka fell out with Halas over a contract, and in 1967 the Bears traded him to Philadelphia for quarterback Jack Concannon. 2 seasons later the Eagles sent him to Dallas for receiver Dave McDaniels. In Dallas he was a 30-something blocking tight end on a team that couldn't win the big one.

Then it did. In Super Bowl VI, the Dallas defense held Miami to a single field goal. With 11:42 left in the 4th quarter, Roger Staubach hit Ditka for a 7-yard touchdown. It was the last score of the game, and it made Dallas a champion for the first time.

Six years later, as a Cowboys assistant under Tom Landry, he won another one, Super Bowl XII.

2. The first tight end in Canton

1988: Pro Football Hall of Fame. 427 catches, 5,812 yards, 43 touchdowns.

Ditka played 12 seasons for 3 teams and made 5 Pro Bowls. In 1988 he became the first tight end ever inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and he went in while he was coaching the Bears.

That same year, on Nov. 2, 1988, he had a heart attack. He was back on the sideline 11 days later, against his doctors' advice, and he finished the season as the AP Coach of the Year for the 2nd time. In 2013 the Bears retired his No. 89 at halftime of a Monday night game against, of all teams, the Cowboys.

1. Super Bowl XX

Jan. 26, 1986, Louisiana Superdome. Bears 46, Patriots 10.

Ditka had written to Halas asking for the job, and in 1982 the old man gave it to him. The 1985 Bears were his answer. They started 12-0, lost only once (38-24 at Miami, on a Monday night), shut out both of their playoff opponents and then flattened New England in New Orleans. At the time, the 36-point margin was the biggest in Super Bowl history.

Before the NFC Championship Game against the Rams, Ditka gave Chicago the line it still lives by: there are teams that are Smiths, and there are teams that are Grabowskis, and the Bears were Grabowskis.

The only thing he'd change is the 3rd quarter. With the Bears up 37-3, he gave the ball at the goal line to 300-pound defensive tackle William "Refrigerator" Perry, who scored. Walter Payton ran 22 times for 66 yards that day and never scored a Super Bowl touchdown. Ditka called it his biggest regret for the rest of his life.

It's still the only Super Bowl the Bears have ever won.

Honorable mention: everything else

He went 106-62 in the regular season with the Bears from 1982 to 1992, and 112-68 counting the playoffs, the most wins of any Bears coach not named Halas. He won AP Coach of the Year in 1985 and 1988.

On Jan. 12, 1991, Saturday Night Live aired its first "Bill Swerski's Superfans" sketch, and "Da Bears" and "Da Coach" became permanent parts of Chicago's vocabulary.

In New Orleans, he traded every pick the Saints had left in the 1999 draft, plus a 1st and a 3rd in 2000, to move up for running back Ricky Williams, then posed with Williams as a bride and groom on the cover of ESPN The Magazine. The Saints went 3-13. He was fired.

The Bears said this week that they were "deeply saddened by the passing of legendary and treasured Chicago Bear and Pro Football Hall of Famer Mike Ditka." Roger Goodell put it more simply: "Mike Ditka epitomized football over so many years."

What's your favorite Mike Ditka moment? Tell us in the comments.