Mike Ditka threatened to resign as coach...

Mike Ditka threatened to resign as coach of the Chicago Bears last week and still may leave the team that he led to the Super Bowl championship last year, the Chicago Tribune reported.

When Ditka learned last week that Jerry Vainisi, his close friend, was being fired as general manager, he tried to talk club President Mike McCaskey out of it and threatened to quit, the Tribune reported. Ditka strongly hinted to friends that he will not work for McCaskey beyond the 1987 season, when his contract expires.

The Chicago Sun-Times quoted a source close to the Bears as saying: “Vainisi was the glue that held this organization together. . . . Had Mike Ditka left, Jerry Vainisi would have left.”

Ditka was visibly upset at a news conference announcing Vainisi’s departure. He said he was “very, very hurt” by McCaskey’s decision to let Vainisi go.