Happy. Surprised. Upbeat. Cordial. And even a bit nostalgic.
Mike Ditka was all of these Saturday on a humid afternoon in the birthplace of pro football.
When a limousine carrying Tom Landry around the gridiron in Fawcett Stadium at halftime swung by Ditka on the sideline, the Bears coach halted the parade and shook hands with his one-time Dallas Cowboys mentor.
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”I just told him I was proud to have been able to contribute to his career,” Ditka said of Landry, who earlier in the day was inducted into the Pro Football of Fame.
”Nobody has given more to the game than Landry,” said Ditka, an assistant coach under Landry for nine years before coming to Chicago.
Ditka was high-spirited, low key and all smiles as he savored his Bears` 13-0 shutout of the Cleveland Browns in the annual Hall of Fame game.
It may have been only an exhibition, and a boring one at that, but Iron Mike knew the victory meant something to the team he is trying to rebuild after a disastrous 6-10 season in 1989.
”Overall,” Ditka said, ”it was a pretty good performance. It`s something to build on.
”All three quarterbacks played well-Mike and Brent and Jim. There were some nice surprises.”
Ditka rolled the name ”Brent” off his tongue as if it should be a household word to Bear fans. He was referring to free agent Brent Pease, who was picked up only a week ago when the Bears failed to come to terms with third-round draft choice Peter Tom Willis.
Ditka quite likely was sending a message to Willis and his agent when he said that Pease, who played the fourth quarter, conceivably could make the team.
”We`ve gotta keep three quarterbacks,” Ditka said, ”and Brent may be one of them.” The Bears carried only two quarterbacks last year.
Among the ”surprises” that attracted Iron Mike`s attention were tight end James Coley, a gutsy free agent from Clemson who scored the game`s only touchdown on a 35-yard pass from Mike Tomczak, and Tony Moss, a fourth-round draft pick from LSU who returned a punt 55 yards but fumbled the ball away.
Ditka chewed out Moss on the sideline, but it was one of Ditka`s milder tongue-lashings.
”I didn`t know what to think when he came up to me,” Moss said. ”He just wanted to tell me don`t ever fumble again. He told me it would have been better to run out of bounds than to fumble. The next time, it will be different.”
Coley, waived in the Bears` final cutdown last summer, spent 1989 on the developmental squad. Since there are no such squads in the league this year, Coley must make the team on preseason merit.
The 6-foot-3-inch, 270-pounder took the first step toward survival when he slanted into the seam of the Browns` double zone to take Tomczak`s bullet at the Cleveland 25-yard line.
”The strong safety (Kyle Kramer) was playing outside,” said Coley. ”I went into him like I was going to block him, and then went inside. Then I saw the end zone. I had 25 yards to go, and there was only the free safety to beat. There was no way I was going to get shut out of the end zone.”
The impact of Coley`s collision with Kramer sent the Browns` strong safety to the sideline for good with a pinched shoulder nerve.
Coley realizes he is still a long way away from earning a place on the final 47-man roster. He also knows he has been assigned Ditka`s old jersey number 89.