NEW ORLEANS, LA - JANUARY 26: Head Coach Mike Ditka of the Chicago Bears gets carried off the field after they defeated the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XX January 26, 1986 at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Bears won the Super Bowl 46-10. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
Football fans turned Lambeau Field into a sea of sweater vests, sunglasses and mustaches on Sunday, paying tribute to Chicago Bears legend Mike Ditka just two days after the Hall of Famer died at 86.
Ditka’s family announced his death on Oct. 9. In a statement, they noted that while the world knew him as a Hall of Fame player and the coach who led the Bears to a Super Bowl title, “we knew him as the heart of our family. No cause of death was announced.
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The tributes were front and center when the Bears visited the rival Green Bay Packers on Sunday. Bears players wore No. 89 stickers on the backs of their helmets in honor of Ditka’s jersey number from his playing days, and both teams observed a moment of silence before kickoff.
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Over the Lambeau Field public address system, fans heard that the Packers and the NFL community were “saddened to learn of the passing of Pro Football Hall of Famer Mike Ditka,” Fox News reported.
In the stands, fans came dressed as the coach, donning his trademark sweaters, mustaches and cigars. Others wore replicas of the blue Bears sweater vest Ditka famously sported on the sideline during Chicago’s Super Bowl XX rout of the New England Patriots.
Bears head coach Ben Johnson said Friday that Ditka remained “the gold standard in terms of this place” and that his influence on the franchise was still being felt.
The emotional day did not end the way Bears fans had hoped. Green Bay routed Chicago 31-7, dropping the Bears to 3-2. Quarterback Caleb Williams missed his third straight game.
The tributes extended well beyond Green Bay. In Chicago, fans gathered at Ditka’s restaurant in Oak Brook, and the Chicago Bulls held a moment of silence in his honor. All networks broadcasting Sunday’s NFL games also paid tribute to Ditka.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement that “Mike Ditka epitomized football over so many years,” ABC7 Chicago reported. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and former President Barack Obama also issued statements honoring him.
Online, fans shared clips of Ditka’s famously fiery press conference rants from his years coaching the Bears and the New Orleans Saints.
Nicknamed “Iron Mike,” Ditka played tight end for the Bears in the 1960s and became the first tight end inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1988. He returned to Chicago as head coach from 1982 to 1992, transforming the franchise into one of the NFL’s most dominant teams.
His 1985 Bears, led by a ferocious defense, went 15-1 in the regular season and crushed the Patriots 46-10 in Super Bowl XX. Ditka was named NFL Coach of the Year twice. He later coached the Saints for three seasons and became a longtime television analyst.
Ditka and Tom Flores are the only people to win an NFL title as a player, an assistant coach and a head coach.
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