On Friday, the National Football League lost one of the sport’s legendary figures, and someone Minnesota Vikings fans are very familiar with, even if he never donned the purple and gold.
Mike Ditka, who was the first tight end enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and later became a Super Bowl-winning head coach for the Chicago Bears, died Friday. He is 86 years old.
Ditka, ironically enough, entered the NFL the same year the Vikings did, as the Bears selected him with the fifth pick of the 1961 NFL Draft. He was also selected #8 overall in the AFL Draft that year by the Houston Oilers, but chose to play for Chicago instead. Throughout his playing career, he played for the Chicago, Philadelphia Eagles, and Dallas Cowboys. Upon retirement in 1973, he joined Tom Landry’s staff in Dallas, where he was an assistant until the Bears hired him as their head coach in 1982.
Ditka led the Bears for 11 seasons, from 1982 to 1992. That meant he had to lead the Bears to the Metrodome once a year, and he didn’t have much of an affinity for the place. In 1987, he referred to it as the “Rollerdome,” saying it was better suited for roller skating than football. Then-Vikings GM Mike Lynn responded by sending a pair of roller skates to Halas Hall. The nickname actually stuck to the point where a skating club was established that used the Dome until it was torn down after the Vikings’ 2013 season.
The game Vikings fans may remember most, however, was likely Ditka’s last game in the Metrodome as the Bears’ head coach in 1992. In that game, the Bears led the Vikings 20-0 early in the fourth quarter, and Chicago quarterback Jim Harbaugh called what he thought would be a short pass to running back Neal Anderson. Anderson missed the catch, and instead the pass went to Vikings defensive back Todd Scott, who took the ball into the end zone for a 35-yard touchdown. It was the first of three unanswered touchdowns for the Vikings, who turned that 20-0 deficit into an improbable 21-20 victory.
It was Ditka. . .shall we say. . .was less than impressed with Harbaugh’s decision.
After leaving Chicago, Ditka took a break from coaching for a few seasons before being hired by the New Orleans Saints in 1997. He coached with the Saints for three seasons before finally leaving the coaching ranks after the 1999 season and moving into the world of broadcasting.
Ditka is one of only two people, along with former Raiders head coach Tom Flores, to win a Super Bowl as a player, assistant coach, and head coach.
We would like to send our condolences to the family, friends, and loved ones of Mike Ditka on his passing, as well as to our NFC North brethren in Chicago, who will no doubt be receiving it greatly.