Ditka’s Biggest Problem May Be His Mouth

In a city that judges itself on the breadth of its shoulders, Mike Ditka’s were the broadest. Chicago embraced him, hoisted him above the crowds and carried him off as a conquering hero.

The spoils of his conquest were unswerving loyalty and an estimated $8 million in annual income from product endorsements. Turn on the television in Chicago and see Mike sell savings bonds, cars and airline tickets. Go to Soldier Field on fall Sundays and see Mike stalk, rave and win.

He became the city’s symbol, a winning link to a losing past. Not only did Ditka’s Bears win, they won big and won in a manner that meshed with the city’s personality. The Bears were tough, strong and swaggering. They stopped teams by refusing to allow them to get started.

They were, in short, broad-shouldered. And Ditka was their unquestioned leader.

“He became Pope here,” says Terry Boers, a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times.

Now his city’s shoulders have turned as cold as its winter winds. Nobody is quite sure when Ditka went from canonized to vilified, but everybody has an opinion.

Some of his players point to Oct. 8, when Ditka lashed out at them after the Bears suffered their first loss of the season, to--of all teams--the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Said Bears cornerback Lorenzo Lynch: “Right after we lost that game, he came into the locker room and ripped everybody, I mean everybody. We haven’t been the same since.”

Bears fans can point to Oct. 29, when Ditka devoted a portion of his weekly television show to criticizing them, saying they come out to Soldier Field and “sit on their hands.”

“That opened some eyes,” said Boers, one of Ditka’s most vigilant critics. “One thing Bears fans aren’t is quiet.”

The country got its most graphic glimpse on Nov. 26, when Ditka publicly scorched several of his younger players, Lynch prominently included, for a variety of failings in a 38-14 loss to the Washington Redskins. The tirade made all the highlight shows.

“This is an absolutely atrocious football team,” Ditka said at the time. “I know we have to play the rest of the schedule, but I doubt we can win more than one game.”

Give Ditka points for prophesy, however self-fulfilling it may be. The Bears haven’t won since. They are caught in a seemingly bottomless spiral, and Ditka has conducted the fall.

“Ditka unquestionably is less popular than he was a year ago,” said Ray Sons, a longtime columnist for the Sun-Times. “People are ticked off at the Bears, and he’s the most visible Bear. Hell, he’s so visible we can’t get rid of him.”

After five consecutive NFC Central titles, punctuated by the utter dominance displayed by the 1985 Super Bowl champions, the Bears enter Sunday’s season finale against the 49ers at Candlestick Park with a record of 6-9. They have lost five straight and nine of 11 since beginning the season 4-0.

“I do believe that in some cases winning makes people content,” Ditka said Wednesday. “Maybe we became a little satisfied.

“Whether this year is characteristic or not, it’s a fact. A lot of people don’t want to deal in facts. Unfortunately, that’s all I can deal in. I can’t deal in betting on yesterday’s performances. Nobody deals with that. We have to deal with what’s happening today. I have to deal with facts, but sometimes when I do that people get offended because they don’t want to hear the truth. And the truth is the truth, whether I say it or someone else says it.”

There have been injuries, most notably to All-Pro defensive tackle Dan Hampton, and there have been major problems at quarterback, where Mike Tomczak and Jim Harbaugh have taken turns struggling.

“I don’t think it’s any one thing,” Ditka said. “I think it was a matter of a couple of things. The thing that disturbs me is how we reacted to it. You know, adversity can be met in many ways; adversity can be just another opportunity in disguise. When we had some adversity . . . we didn’t respond to it very well. It wasn’t any one person’s fault, it was just something that happened.

“It would be fine to sit here and say it’s all coaching that has created the problem. That can be said, but in all essence we know that’s not true. Once we cross the white lines, we have nothing to do with what happens on the field, basically.”

But, through all the problems, Ditka has provided a strong undercurrent of instability. He admits he overestimated the team early when he predicted a trip to the Super Bowl. He then lashed out at the players before turning the criticism on himself.

“It’s all my fault,” he told the Chicago media. “Blame me; you will anyway.”

It should come as no surprise that Ditka’s chosen implement of destruction is his mouth. Always outspoken, always intense--even in the wake of last year’s heart attack--Ditka’s greatest asset in times of success was his ability to motivate.

But he was motivating players--Mike Singletary, Steve McMichael, Wilber Marshall, Walter Payton--who were in the prime of their careers. They were perched on the brink, needing only a push.

Now, partly because of poor drafts, Ditka’s team is a blend of young and old, with few to meet the twain. His fiery outbursts are finding the 1989 Bears a tougher crowd.

Instead of Marshall, Payton and Hampton, there is John Roper, Donnell Woolford and Lynch.

“It’s a tough situation to deal with a season like this, and sometimes a coach is forced to think of different ways to motivate,” Singletary said. “Coach Ditka is a winner. He wants to win. It’s just one of those situations where I think it was more the timing of the things he said that made a difference.

“We just went through a division championship game last year, and I think people really forgot that we’re basically a team in transition. The expectation level builds to a point where some of our young guys were ready and some were not.”

Says Lynch: “The older guys pretty much ignore him. The other guys are out there doing their own jobs just so that he won’t be on their back, so they don’t get yelled at.

“But the older guys told me that he sometimes says things he doesn’t mean. He’ll say ‘em, then the next day he’ll say something completely different.”

Indeed, one Bears beat writer made a point of keeping track of contradictory statements made by Ditka over a two-day period. He counted 48.

“I don’t know what he’s thinking,” Boers said. “Hell, he doesn’t know what he’s thinking. . . . He’s just not stable. He’s just not right.”

Ditka says “there is a little bit of doubt, but not much” that he will return next season for the final year of his contract.

“I think he’ll be ready to come back next year and do whatever it takes,” Singletary said. “I think things kind of caught him off balance a bit, and it just made things tough.”

Says Ditka: “I’m 99 and 44 one-hundredths percent sure I’ll be back. I’m about that close. There’s a little bit of doubt there, but not much.

“If we won it all this year, I’m not sure if I would have come back. There are other challenges in life I’d like to face. But because of the situation, this is one that will be faced again.”