Mike Ditka, one of the NFL's most legendary and colorful characters, has passed away at the age of 86. And while the Hall of Famer will always be most closely associated with the Chicago Bears- as both a player and a Super Bowl-winning head coach- he spent a large and instrumental part of his singular football career as a Dallas Cowboy, too.
Ditka was a first-round draft pick in both the NFL and AFL coming out of the University of Pittsburgh in 1961. He signed with the Bears (over the AFL's Oilers) and became arguably the game's first tight end to be used as a true receiving threat. He went to the Pro Bowl in each of his first five seasons and earned first- or second-team All-Pro honors every year from 1962 to 1966.
He was traded to Philadelphia
in 1967, largely over a contract dispute with the Halas family. His numbers took a dramatic dip with the Eagles, but his football days were far from over.
Though he claimed to hate the Cowboys for their "goody two-shoes image," Ditka reportedly hated his Eagles coaches more. He agreed to join the Cowboys after head coach Tom Landry traded for him in early 1969. While his playing time was mostly relegated to backup duty, "Iron Mike" was a violent contributor on the field and a hard-nosed and gritty veteran presence in the locker room during the franchise's first rise to power. Ditka was on the roster for the Cowboys' first Super Bowl appearance in Super Bowl V and caught a touchdown in their first title win in Super Bowl VI.
He retired from playing in 1973 and immediately joined Tom Landry's staff in Dallas. (He had actually been serving as a player-coach under Landry already.) Starting out as the team's assistant wide receivers coach, he eventually worked his way up to an assistant head coach's role and special teams coordinator. During his nine seasons on the coaching staff, the Cowboys earned eight playoff berths, won six NFC East crowns, three conference titles, and another Super Bowl ring. His final game as a Cowboys coach was the notorious NFC Championship Game, won by San Francisco on "The Catch."
Ditka returned to Chicago to take over as head coach and went on to win another Super Bowl with one of the greatest NFL teams ever put together, the 1985 Bears. During that season, Ditka faced Landry for the first time and beat his former mentor by a 44-0 score, still the most lopsided loss in Cowboys franchise history.
“I owe my career and everything I have, through its evolution, to football,” Ditka said after the rout. “But the biggest part of it happened in Dallas.”
After 11 seasons on the sidelines at Soldier Field and a four-year hiatus from coaching, Ditka assumed the top job in New Orleans. There, he famously traded away every draft pick of the Saints' 1999 season (and a 2000 first-rounder) to select running back Ricky Williams.
The Saints fired Ditka in 2000, and he went back to several high-profile television gigs. His 121 regular-season wins have him ranked 34th all-time among NFL coaches. He was enshrined in Canton as a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Class of 1988 and was the first tight end to ever earn a gold jacket.
Ditka's No. 89 jersey was retired by the Bears during a 2013 game against his former Cowboys team. The Bears beat the Cowboys, 45-28, in subzero temperatures.
"You don't play the game or coach the game with this in mind, but it's such a great honor," Ditka said that night. "It's kind of the icing on the cake. It's the final candle, whatever you want to call it. It's been a hell of a run, it really has been."
Todd is on X at @ToddBrock24f7. Also, follow Cowboys Wire on Facebook to join in on the conversation with fellow fans!
This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Late Bears legend Mike Ditka had considerable Cowboys chapter in Hall of Fame career
