Ditka Rips Bears After 33-28 Loss

Coach Mike Ditka criticized his Chicago Bears, calling them a team in disarray Sunday and said, “I don’t know if this team can win another football game.”

Ditka’s comments came after a 33-28 loss to the Houston Oilers. The Bears, despite six turnovers, held a 28-19 lead with less than five minutes to play.

Houston quarterback Warren Moon directed a 61-yard drive and scored on a one-yard run with 3:38 left. Allen Pinkett ran 60 yards to set up Lorenzo White’s winning 12-yard touchdown run with 1:46 left.

“We had the game won, we had it won with six turnovers,” said Ditka. “None of those turnovers came after we had the lead. Therefore, if we had the lead, how come we can’t hold a nine-point lead?”

Ditka answered his own question by saying: “We’re just not playing aggressive football. We looked scared out there. It’s frustrating.”

Moon completed 16 of 26 passes for 317 yards, including touchdown passes of 42 yards to Drew Hill and 45 yards to Haywood Jeffires to cut the deficit to 21-19 in the closing minute of the third quarter.

It was the second consecutive loss for the Bears, marking only the second time since 1984 that they had lost two in a row. The other consecutive losses came in 1987 to San Francisco and Seattle.

Houston Coach Jerry Glanville, asked if it was his biggest win, said: “It ranks right up on top. When you beat a good Chicago team and a good Chicago coach, it’s a big win.”

The Bears not only lost the game, but they also lost the services of linebacker Jim Morrissey, who suffered a lacerated kidney. Morrissey will probably be out the rest of the season.

Morrissey’s injury was originally thought to be bruised ribs, which he suffered late in the third quarter while attempting to intercept a pass. He went to an area hospital after game after he noticed blood in his urine. He was to stay overnight for observation.

Bear quarterback Mike Tomczak, who completed 20 of 29 passes for 247 yards, threw a six-yard touchdown pass to Neal Anderson in the second quarter, teamed with Dennis Gentry on a 79-yard scoring pass play in the third period, and had a seven-yard touchdown pass to James Thornton with 4:55 remaining.