The '85 Bears: We Were the Greatest by Mike Ditka, Rick Telander Page B
Authors: Mike Ditka, Rick Telander
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embarrassment of the year before. Well, they had done it. I am certain we had more talent than anybody. But talent doesn’t always win. The sideshow stuff didn’t affect me, it wasn’t important to me. I wanted to be proud of being a coach for this team and city I loved. You only get a few opportunities in life, that’s it, and you better grab them.
A lot of people thought it was nuts when I was hired to coach the team. But when Mr. Halas hired me, he didn’t hire me for Xs and Os. He hired me because I was a Bear. His own family didn’t have anybody like me in it. They weren’t football people. The McCaskeys didn’t play. I think Halas hired me because he had a gut instinct, and he followed it. When I first arrived, he asked me what I wanted to do for my staff, if I had people in mind.
“I have a few,” I said.
Then he said, “I would really like you to keep the defensive coaches.”
“Why?” I said.
“Because that’s a very strong part of our football team. Buddy Ryan came here in 1978, and the players like him and they play hard for him.”
“Fine,” I said. “I have no problem at all with that.”
I meant it.
I only brought in a couple of coaches, mainly Ed Hughes, whom I’d been with for a few years in Dallas, to be offensive coordinator. Buddy was a hell of a coach. But I know he thought he shouldhave been named head coach. There was nothing I could do about that. You have to understand that when I first got there, the Bears defense was much, much better than the offense. We had to build the offense little by little, put the pieces of the puzzle in place. But it was hard to do when we were practicing against those guys and they were going full speed and we couldn’t accomplish anything. They were better than us, cut and dried. Understand? So what? Buddy and I would have the argument constantly, over and over and over. We don’t play the Bears, Buddy. I don’t see them on our schedule. Do you? Where? We have to play the other team’s defense, not ours! The attitude and respect changed after Covert body-slammed McMichael. And after Fridge played against San Francisco, too. But still I had to tell Buddy to put William in on defense. I mean, this guy was a good athlete. He didn’t deserve the rap of being just a fat guy, and he sure as hell wasn’t lazy.
I wanted Buddy to know we could not win if we had different goals. The only goal should be the whole team’s success. But I saw him get caught up in stats and sacks and stuff like that. I mean, why were we blitzing when we’re up 21 points? Because we’re the No. 1-rated defense and we want more sacks. So I was going to use one of his defensive players when I wanted to.
And I felt good and celebrated just a bit after our win. We got on the plane, and I started drinking wine with Jerry Vainisi. I mean, it wasn’t like we were crazy celebrating. I was just relishing the little bit we’d accomplished. It’s a long flight from California, and the wine kept coming. We felt good and we were dissecting the game, enjoying the glow. When we got to O’Hare early in the morning, everybody went scrambling for their cars. I got in mine and took off and headed north on I-294.
All of a sudden I see a police light turn on, and the next thing I know, I pull over and the guy is giving me a ticket for driving under the influence. I was wrong, and driving after drinking is a terrible thing. But the guy was a prick. I was 100 percent wrong, I admit that. But here I am on the side of the highway, and players are flying past in their cars and they’re looking at their coach getting arrested. I think a player or two stopped, and I told them to keep on going. I didn’t think I was drunk. My judgment was good, but maybe it wasn’t perfect. I argue with that cop, call him everything I can think of. Everything in the book. It’s not a good scene.
I did everything I was supposed to do, though I didn’t take a breathalyzer, because I didn’t want to. Tom
A lot of people thought it was nuts when I was hired to coach the team. But when Mr. Halas hired me, he didn’t hire me for Xs and Os. He hired me because I was a Bear. His own family didn’t have anybody like me in it. They weren’t football people. The McCaskeys didn’t play. I think Halas hired me because he had a gut instinct, and he followed it. When I first arrived, he asked me what I wanted to do for my staff, if I had people in mind.
“I have a few,” I said.
Then he said, “I would really like you to keep the defensive coaches.”
“Why?” I said.
“Because that’s a very strong part of our football team. Buddy Ryan came here in 1978, and the players like him and they play hard for him.”
“Fine,” I said. “I have no problem at all with that.”
I meant it.
I only brought in a couple of coaches, mainly Ed Hughes, whom I’d been with for a few years in Dallas, to be offensive coordinator. Buddy was a hell of a coach. But I know he thought he shouldhave been named head coach. There was nothing I could do about that. You have to understand that when I first got there, the Bears defense was much, much better than the offense. We had to build the offense little by little, put the pieces of the puzzle in place. But it was hard to do when we were practicing against those guys and they were going full speed and we couldn’t accomplish anything. They were better than us, cut and dried. Understand? So what? Buddy and I would have the argument constantly, over and over and over. We don’t play the Bears, Buddy. I don’t see them on our schedule. Do you? Where? We have to play the other team’s defense, not ours! The attitude and respect changed after Covert body-slammed McMichael. And after Fridge played against San Francisco, too. But still I had to tell Buddy to put William in on defense. I mean, this guy was a good athlete. He didn’t deserve the rap of being just a fat guy, and he sure as hell wasn’t lazy.
I wanted Buddy to know we could not win if we had different goals. The only goal should be the whole team’s success. But I saw him get caught up in stats and sacks and stuff like that. I mean, why were we blitzing when we’re up 21 points? Because we’re the No. 1-rated defense and we want more sacks. So I was going to use one of his defensive players when I wanted to.
And I felt good and celebrated just a bit after our win. We got on the plane, and I started drinking wine with Jerry Vainisi. I mean, it wasn’t like we were crazy celebrating. I was just relishing the little bit we’d accomplished. It’s a long flight from California, and the wine kept coming. We felt good and we were dissecting the game, enjoying the glow. When we got to O’Hare early in the morning, everybody went scrambling for their cars. I got in mine and took off and headed north on I-294.
All of a sudden I see a police light turn on, and the next thing I know, I pull over and the guy is giving me a ticket for driving under the influence. I was wrong, and driving after drinking is a terrible thing. But the guy was a prick. I was 100 percent wrong, I admit that. But here I am on the side of the highway, and players are flying past in their cars and they’re looking at their coach getting arrested. I think a player or two stopped, and I told them to keep on going. I didn’t think I was drunk. My judgment was good, but maybe it wasn’t perfect. I argue with that cop, call him everything I can think of. Everything in the book. It’s not a good scene.
I did everything I was supposed to do, though I didn’t take a breathalyzer, because I didn’t want to. Tom
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