Mike Ditka has been gone five years now, and the Bears are much worse off without him. If he needed vindication, an 0-5 Bears record is enough, except he has problems of his own. His 1-4 Saints are underdogs to a winless team, so Ditka hardly feels like gloating.
“I really don’t think about that,” he said. “I feel sorry for Dave and some of the things that have happened. But it’s a tough system. He happens to be in a division right now where teams are getting constantly better.”
Wife Diana Ditka is more blunt: “Nobody is going to win with that team as long as McCaskey owns it. They should be putting pressure on McCaskey, not Dave Wannstedt. Put pressure on McCaskey to sell it.”
Surely an 0-5 record generates enough blame to cover everyone, Ditka included. Had he not pummeled division foes for so many years, his point about the improving NFC Central wouldn’t hit home.
“Minnesota, Detroit, Tampa Bay all got better. Green Bay got a lot better,” Ditka said. “They’re in a much tougher division than we are right now. There are teams in our (NFC West) division that have had a hard time for a long time, us being one of them.”
One of the reasons the Vikings, Lions, Bucs and Packers were bad was the Bears were beating them so regularly. From 1984-92, Ditka compiled an 11-7 record against the Vikings, 13-4 against the Lions, 15-3 against the Bucs and 14-4 against the Packers.
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Eventually, sleeping dogs wake up. The system forces it. The Bucs had a draft choice in the top eight 12 years in a row, from 1984-95. They blew almost all of them, but the law of averages eventually works even for the poorest.
The Vikings tried to catch the Bears by trading for Mike Merriweather and Herschel Walker instead of allowing astute personnel men Frank Gilliam, Jerry Reichow and Paul Wiggin to work the draft. Even in the years they gave all their high picks to Dallas, they signed defensive tackle John Randle as an undrafted free agent and got players such as Terry Allen and Brad Johnson in ninth rounds.
The Lions were drafting third when they plucked Barry Sanders in 1989. The Packers, drafting second that year, took Tony Mandarich, a move that helped hasten the departure of Tom Braatz as general manager and Lindy Infante as coach. The chase of the Bears had become desperate, so club President Bob Harlan gave GM Ron Wolf more power than anyone had had since Vince Lombardi.
One of Ditka’s favorite sayings is “What goes around comes around.” The NFL is structured to go in cycles, so part of what ails the Bears now is the flip side of what thrilled them when Ditka was coach.
Those glory years were set up by a similar cycle. Walter Payton (No. 4 draft pick overall), Dan Hampton (4), Al Harris (9), Keith Van Horne (11), Jim McMahon (5) and Jim Covert (6) all were products of horrid years in the late ’60s and early ’70s.
Ditka is going through similar bad times in New Orleans. “I told him, `It took them 30 years to screw this place up. You can’t win in one year,’ ” Diana said.
The trouble with both Ditka and Wannstedt is they are such positive, optimistic sorts that they believe they can win regardless of talent. That’s why both benefit from guidance in the personnel area. Ditka’s gut feelings in New Orleans on acquisitions such as unproven quarterback Heath Shuler, overachieving guard Chris Naeole and undersized running back Troy Davis and defensive end Jared Tomich have yet to pay dividends, just as Wannstedt’s willingness to switch quarterbacks and receivers while sticking with unproven defenders has thus far backfired royally.
Surely Ditka’s wild success in Chicago isn’t all that’s wrong with today’s lowly Bears. He admits himself he could have made better decisions toward the end of his tenure. The best organizations don’t allow five-year lulls regardless of system. They draft smarter, trade better, coach faster, decide quicker.
But as long as Chicago is looking around for blame this week, remember Ditka and his glory years. They came with a price.