It has been nearly 21 years since Mike Ditka led the Bears to the Super Bowl, and 14 years since he last walked the sidelines as their coach.
Yet on the eve of the Bears’ biggest game since 1989, “Da Coach” has his unique grip on this town again.
Many Bears fans were in an uproar over Ditka’s comments that he doesn’t have a rooting interest in the NFC championship game Sunday between the Bears and the New Orleans Saints at Soldier Field.
He has ties to both teams, having spent three forgettable years as coach of the Saints from 1997-99 and compiling a 15-33 record. But it was in Chicago where Ditka became an icon, first as a Hall of Fame tight end and then as a larger-than-life coach who guided a larger-than-life team to glory in 1985.
The latest flap began Monday when Ditka told the Tribune, “I never root for anybody, really.”
Ditka reiterated his neutral stance during radio interviews Wednesday. He told Mike North of WSCR-AM 670 that “I won’t be sad if either one of them don’t win.”
Ditka then took it to another level by taking a swipe at former Bears President Michael McCaskey, who fired Ditka after the 1992 season, during an interview on WMVP-AM 1000. Ditka also blasted New Orleans owner Tom Benson, calling him “a stupid cheat.”
“I dealt with a sneak in Chicago, so I don’t really respect people who do those things, you know,” Ditka told WMVP hosts Steve Rosenbloom and Sean Salisbury. “When I have the job as the head coach and you talk to somebody behind my back (his successor, Dave Wannstedt) when I’m still the head coach about that job, then I think that’s a little disgusting.”
Ditka declined further interview requests Wednesday, telling his assistant he was “done talking about it.”
Ditka’s comments caused a furor, as angry fans ripped the former coach for not being loyal to the team. It was as if they felt abandoned by the man many consider to be the ultimate Bear.
“Everyone understands he has an argument with the McCaskeys; he can’t get past that,” North said. “But they don’t understand how he can’t pull for the blue and orange. Those colors transcend anyone who runs the team. I mean, can you imagine Bill Walsh not rooting for the 49ers?”
The passion Ditka still elicits speaks to his incredible popularity. His in-your-face approach to football, as well as life, resonated with a town that prides itself on being tough. His colorful and unpredictable persona never dimmed with Bears fans. He remains very much in their consciousness with his analyst work locally and nationally for ESPN.
“If Mike Ditka is on one side of Ontario Avenue and [Bears coach] Lovie Smith was on the other side the day after the Super Bowl, Mike would be mobbed,” North said. “He’s still the face of the franchise.”
Mark Giangreco of WLS-Ch. 7 took it a step further.
“I’d venture to say he’s bigger than Michael Jordan,” Giangreco said. “Michael kind of faded away. He’s running another team (the Charlotte Bobcats) now. Ditka continues to endure as a media icon. He’s the biggest creature ever created here.”
The spotlight is squarely on him again this week. Ditka could have made it easy on himself by saying he was going to pull for the Bears.
After all, Ditka still has connections to the Bears, working as an analyst for their exhibition games since 2000. Back then, Ditka said he was thrilled to be associated with his old team.
“When people think of me, they think of me as a Bear,” Ditka said in August 2000. “This is where I started. My whole life has been based on the Bears.”
So why did he stop short of endorsing the Bears this week? Former Bears receiver Tom Waddle thinks his old coach was trying to remain objective.
“He doesn’t want to compromise his integrity from a national standpoint,” Waddle said. “If he were to come out and say he was cheering for Chicago, people in New Orleans would say that’s sour grapes because he couldn’t get the job done there.”
Waddle played for Ditka and now works for WGN-AM 720 and WFLD-Ch. 32. He knows where Da Coach’s sentiments lie. “If you hooked him up to a lie detector, I think you’d know the answer,” Waddle said.
Ditka did pick a winner in the AFC title game, going with Indianapolis over New England. He has made no secret of his dislike for Patriots coach Bill Belichick.
Ditka obviously isn’t fond of McCaskey or Benson. An NFC title game featuring two teams that fired him could be stirring up old, bitter feelings.
If that’s the case, Giangreco says, Ditka should practice what he preaches.
“Who said, `People who live in the past, die in the past?'” Giangreco said, repeating one of Ditka’s pet sayings which he currently uses in a Coors Light commercial. “Let it go, coach, please.”
Giangreco says the Ditka flap is a Super Bowl week story two weeks early. If the Bears beat New Orleans to earn a trip to Miami, the story could get bigger.
That’s the way it always has been with Ditka.
“In 100 years, when we’re all in the ground, they’ll still be talking about Mike Ditka,” Waddle said.
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esherman@tribune.com
