Legendary Bears Coach Mike Ditka, A Chicago Sports And Cultural Icon, Dies At 86

CHICAGO — Mike Ditka, the Hall of Fame coach who led the Chicago Bears to their legendary 1985 Super Bowl championship and became one of the most recognizable figures in Chicago sports, has died, according to his family and 670 The Score. 

“It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved husband, father, grandfather and friend, Mike Ditka,” the Ditka family said in a statement. “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. Mike will be missed beyond measure and remembered forever.”

Ditka was 86. 

Jarrett Payton, the son of late Bears legend Walter Payton, first announced the news on The Score sports radio Friday morning. Walter Payton played for Ditka for six seasons, and the two won the team’s only Super Bowl in 1985.

“Everybody knows how much coach means to me and to my family and to the city, to the Chicago Bears,” Jarrett Payton said.

“He has been nothing but an amazing person for my entire family, but also somebody that [has] always made sure that I was OK, that our family was OK and always kept up with us,” he added. “Anytime that I needed him, he was always there.”

Ditka’s legacy in Chicago extends well beyond the championship. Known for his trademark mustache, sunglasses and fiery sideline demeanor, he became a larger-than-life symbol of the Bears — one that fans still imitate decades later by dressing up as “Da Coach” at games and at events around the city. His personality not only became associated with the Bears but also hard-working Chicagoans who didn’t care what you thought about him or them.

In one famous photo, Ditka can be seen flipping off the camera as he walks off the field.

His impact also became a part of pop culture around the country. In a famous skit from Saturday Night Live in 1991, a group of Bears “Super Fans” brag about their love for the team.

At one point, the wife of one of the Super Fans notes how her husband was “my Ditka.”

The fan, played by Second City alum Chris Farley, yells, “I’m her Ditka!”

Reactions poured in from the sports world, including from another legendary sports figure, former White Sox player and manager Ozzie Guillen, who won a championship of his own.

“Coach, man, we had some great times, laughs and memories over the years,” he wrote in a social media post. “Always admired your style. Thank you for the talks, advice and friendship. Chicago lost a legend.”

Player and Coach

Ditka joined the Bears as a player in 1961, when the team selected him with the fifth overall pick in the NFL draft. The tight end played in Chicago through the 1966 season, helping the Bears win the 1963 NFL championship before being traded to the Philadelphia Eagles in 1967. He later played for the Dallas Cowboys, winning a Super Bowl as a player in 1971.

After nine seasons as a Cowboys assistant coach, Ditka returned to Chicago in 1982, when Bears founder and owner George Halas hired him as head coach. In 11 seasons, Ditka led the Bears to 112 victories, six division titles and three NFC Championship game appearances, culminating in the team’s Super Bowl victory. 

He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1988, and the Bears retired his No. 89 jersey in 2013.

Ditka became one of the defining personalities of the Bears-Packers rivalry, bringing a brash, combative edge to a matchup that already carried generations of history. His fiery sideline presence and confidence made him a natural embodiment of Chicago’s rivalry with Green Bay — something that lives on today as Bears fans chant, “Green Bay sucks” at sporting events around the city and elsewhere. The Bears will play the Packers in Green Bay at noon Sunday.

He had a wider impact in Illinois.

He also opened a hugely popular steakhouse in the Gold Coast, which expanded with locations in suburbs including Arlington Heights, Oakbrook and Westmont as well as Arizona and Pennsylvania. The original restaurant closed in 2020 after 23 years in business.

His name also circulated for years in Illinois political circles. Though he never ran for office, Ditka described himself as a staunch conservative and was mentioned several times as a possible Republican candidate, including in a congressional race against then-state Rep. Barack Obama for the U.S. Senate. He did, however, present then-President Obama with a Bears jersey in a 2011 recognition of the Super Bowl team at the White House.

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