League Should Bear Taking Another Look at Ditka
Rich Kotite is 3-25 in his last 28 games, Rich Brooks is 3-12 in his last 15, and David Shula 19-50 in his career. And there’s no place for Mike Ditka on the NFL sidelines?
Twenty-two coaches have been hired in the NFL since Ditka’s dismissal as the Chicago Bears’ coach after the 1992 season. Only one team, the Rams, called him.
“He didn’t want to be interviewed,” said John Shaw, Ram president. “He said we knew his qualifications, and if we wanted to hire him, fine, but he didn’t want to be a name on somebody’s list.”
So the Rams went for Brooks, who has been a raging disappointment. Meanwhile, Ditka is on network TV, does three radio shows a week in Chicago, smokes too many cigars to keep count and is getting ready to open “Iron Mike’s,” a fancy restaurant in downtown Chicago.
“Let me tell you a story,” Ditka said. “One of the owners when I got fired comes up to [Bear President Mike] McCaskey and says, ‘How could you fire my favorite coach?’ Well, since then he’s hired two other coaches. So what does that tell you about Mike Ditka’s chances of being hired again?
“Maybe I’ll buy my own football team.”
How many personal-seat licenses could a Mike Ditka team sell? Instant entertainment, unpredictability, success. In 11 years, Ditka compiled a 106-62 record in regular-season games, 112-68 overall, including a victory in Super Bowl XX.
“I’ll be damned if I have to kiss somebody’s . . . to get a job,” Ditka said. “The record is there. There’s only about five or six guys who have ever won 100 games in 10 years and I’m one of them. That was a goal of mine. Was it egotistical? Sure. But the fact I was able to do that with a team I had inherited that hadn’t won . . . must mean I can do something right.”
George Halas hired Ditka, the former Bear tight end, but then Halas died and his heirs, the McCaskey family, took over the team. Eventually, Mike McCaskey dismissed Jerry Vainisi, Ditka’s friend and the team’s general manager, and then after the Bears dropped to 5-11 in 1992, he fired Ditka.
“I didn’t think he had [it in him],” Ditka said. “He never makes decisions, which is a sign of a very poor executive.
“The thing is, we don’t lose that last season if that play doesn’t happen in Minnesota. I’m still there. No question, it was that one play.”
Oct 4, 1991: The Bears had a 20-0 lead, but quarterback Jim Harbaugh called an audible, the Vikings intercepted his pass and returned it for a touchdown, then went on to win, 21-20. Ditka went wild, berating Harbaugh on the sideline.
“It destroyed me for the rest of the year,” Ditka said. “I lost my zeal, lost my enthusiasm. I was very unhappy with the way I handled the situation. I was very unhappy with who I was. I made an ass out of myself. I made a kid I really loved look bad on national TV.”
It won’t happen again, he said, and if the telephone rings at season’s end, beyond being surprised, he will be interested in working again in the NFL.
“I believe if I ever coached again, you would never see a blowup,” Ditka said, and call it a coincidence, but he was blowing smoke from his cigar. “I think I understand why there were blowups then, and they weren’t right. I don’t think I’d ever blow up at an official, player, situation or anything.
“I’m just telling you, I know a lot more about myself in the last four years. I got to the point where I had a bad attitude, a chip on my shoulder and I was intimidating people. I have no desire to do that anymore.”
And then he goes on the radio, someone asks him about an official’s call, and he begins spitting into the microphone, his voice probably pushing people back away from the radio.
“Listen, I played golf the other day, three-putted seven greens and handed $2,100 over to the guys I was playing with when we were done,” he says. “Didn’t say a word. Four years ago, I would have broken my putter and would have been putting a two-iron as we went on. I’ve mellowed. Maybe it’s the wine I’ve been drinking.”
Four years ago, people knew they had to bring spare decks of cards along when playing gin with him, because when he lost, he tore up the cards.
But could he win on the football field today, what with free agency and the pampered ‘90s athlete?
“We’ll never know,” he said. “It’s going to take somebody way out on a limb to risk finding out. I’d sit down and listen, but I don’t need the heartburn anymore. It would have to be the right situation, the right owner, who would let the coach coach.
“I had my chance in my town with my team and I made it happen. Two years after I was out, I used to wonder about going back, but--I know you will think I’m lying--but I don’t wonder now. I know what it takes to win and the essence of life for me is discipline and resiliency. I never got the chance to bounce back the last time, and that’s all that hurts.”
But what if he never gets the chance again to prowl the sideline?
“I have one favorite song in the world, ‘My Way,’ by Sinatra,” he said. “Listen to the words--it epitomizes my life. Regrets, I’ve had a few, but I did it my way. I took the . . ., chewed it up and spit it out. And it worked, dammit, and that was rewarding. If it never happens again, it happened for me.”
IN QUOTATION MARKS
“I have no short list of coaches, but if I had a short list, [Jet Coach] Kotite would be on it,” Dallas owner Jerry Jones said. “You asked the right guy about Kotite. I like his philosophy. I like his program.” Jones, of course, is the guy who hired Barry Switzer.
The Atlanta Falcons are 0-5 and after playing the Houston Oilers this week, draw Dallas and Pittsburgh. “We’re in a grave, but we’re still alive,” Atlanta wide receiver Terance Mathis said. “They haven’t poured the dirt over us yet.” No, but folks have shovels in hand.
Atlanta Coach June Jones was offensive coordinator for Jerry Glanville. Glanville now works as a broadcaster and, surprisingly, criticized Jones in his dispute with quarterback Jeff George.
“It’s amazing to me that you can get caught on drugs or caught selling drugs and you may be suspended two or three weeks,” Glanville said.
“How does that correlate to talking to the coach and getting suspended four weeks? There’s no call for that. It’s stupid. It doesn’t make any sense.”
No hard feelings? Yeah, right. Ram Coach Brooks, who traded Jerome Bettis to Pittsburgh, was asked about Bettis’ Monday night performance against Kansas City. “I thought he ran very well behind an outstanding offensive line. Not to take anything away from Jerome, I was a lot more impressed in that game with Mike Tomczak.”
Offensive line coach Paul Boudreau of the Detroit Lions is impressed with the Raider defensive linemen: “They’re huge. They’re like Coke machines with heads.”
Tampa Bay running back Errict Rhett continues to hold out for a new contract. The Buccaneers have fined him for not showing up, and the $336,000 salary he was supposed to earn this season has already been wiped out in fines. “We decided we were going to go for broke,” said agent Drew Rosenhaus, apparently not realizing exactly what he had said.
Former Michigan quarterbacks are 8-1 this season. Jim Harbaugh is 4-1 for the Indianapolis Colts, Elvis Grbac 2-0 for the San Francisco 49ers and Todd Collins 2-0 for the Buffalo Bills. All three started last Sunday. Says Collins, “Someone told me it’s a sign the apocalypse is upon us when three Michigan quarterbacks start [in the NFL] on the same weekend.”
Denver running back Terrell Davis has missed playing time twice because of migraine headaches, and Bronco fans have bombarded the club with telephone calls suggesting remedies.
Said Bronco receptionist Maeve Drake, “These people are giving me a headache and I don’t even get migraines.”
Last week, New England Coach Bill Parcells wouldn’t let former Cleveland coach Bill Belichick, now the Patriots’ defensive coordinator, talk to the media about the game with Baltimore. When Parcells was asked after New England’s win how Belichick felt, he snapped, “I don’t know . . . ask him.”
OK, so what’s Belichick got to say?
“He is not available,” barked Parcells.
EXTRA POINTS
--Carolina plays only two games against teams with winning records in the next eight weeks--at Philadelphia and at Houston.
--If the 49ers beat the Green Bay Packers Monday night, it will be the 100th victory for 49er Coach George Seifert, now in his eighth season. In that case, he will become the 26th in NFL history with 100--but the fastest to reach that number. The 49ers will then be the first team to have employed two successive coaches, Bill Walsh and Seifert, who won 100 games.
--Arizona running back LeShon Johnson leads the NFL with 8.5 yards a carry, but the guy is a little strange. He takes a shower before every game. “I like to think I’m clean and fresh,” he said.
Teammate Larry Centers doesn’t understand. “It’s defeating the purpose of going out there--to get dirty, smelly and musty.”
--More Johnson: He eats only once a day on game days and it’s always cereal. “It varies from Apple Jacks to Fruity Pebbles,” he said.
--Consider Shula fired as Cincinnati’s coach despite General Manager Mike Brown’s support. The Bengals must sell 40,000 PSLs by April 30, 1997, to build a new stadium in Hamilton County. How many fans are going to put down their money for a David Shula-coached team?
--So how come everybody else isn’t losing, too? There are 56 former Saints on other NFL rosters.
--The Bills are 4-1, yet they have scored an AFC-low 72 points. Of the 16 teams in the NFL with a winning record, they have scored the fewest points.
--More Bills: Buffalo has set an NFL record by winning 11 consecutive games by three points or fewer.
--Temper, temper. Miami Coach Jimmy Johnson fired safety Gene Atkins last week after Atkins got beat twice for touchdowns. Upon further review, Atkins’ release will cost Miami $1.295 million in 1997. Tight end Eric Green, released earlier by the temperamental Johnson, will cost the Dolphins $2.3 million next year.
THE LAST WORD
Chicago linebacker Bryan Cox thinks the NFL has come down hard on him because of what happened in baseball with Roberto Alomar.
A transcript of what he said, with expletives deleted:
OK, so none of it can repeated in a family newspaper.
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‘I’m going to live to be 150 years old. A lot of people say why do you want to live that long? There’s a lot of people I haven’t [ticked] off yet, so I want to get them all.’--DITKA ON HIS FUTURE.
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‘The game has passed Al Davis by. He’s an old man and the game’s changed too much for him. The Rams . . . could have made the greatest marketing move in the world [in St. Louis], and they blew it. They hired Steve Ortmayer as general manager. It took three years for San Diego to overcome Ortmayer. Give me a break.’--DITKA ON THE RAIDERS AND RAMS LEAVING L.A.
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‘I’d say I’m not the most popular guy in the city anymore because Michael Jordan is, but outside of him, I am.’--DITKA ON HIS POPULARITY NOW IN CHICAGO