Mike Ditka is gone. “Iron Mike,” the Hall of Fame tight end who became “Da Coach” of the legendary 1985 Chicago Bears, died Friday at 86.
His family announced the death Friday morning. They called him the heart of the family and said he “will be missed beyond measure and remembered forever.” No cause of death was announced.
“While the world knew Mike as a Hall of Fame football player, legendary coach, and leader of the Chicago Bears’ Super Bowl XX championship team, we knew him as the heart of our family.”
The Ditka family
Ditka is one of the rare ones who conquered the game from both sides. As a player, he redefined the tight end position, made five straight Pro Bowls and became the first tight end ever inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Then came the whistle. Hired by Bears founder George Halas in 1982, Ditka built the 1985 Bears into a 15-1 juggernaut that stomped the Patriots 46-10 in Super Bowl XX behind a defense people still argue is the greatest ever assembled.
But the ’85 Bears became bigger than football because of a rap song. “The Super Bowl Shuffle” went gold, cracked the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 41 and earned a Grammy nomination. An NFL team cutting a rap record in 1985 was unheard of, and it made Ditka’s crew immortal in hip-hop lore too.
After coaching, Ditka stayed a character: TV analyst, pitchman, Chicago restaurateur. The mustache, the sweater vest, the temper.
They called him Iron Mike. Nobody who watched those teams would argue.