Mike Ditka, legendary Chicago Bears head coach, dies aged 86

Mike Ditka, the legendary leader of the Chicago Bears who won a Super Bowl as both an NFL player and coach, has died at 86, his family announced Friday.

“It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved husband, father, grandfather, and friend, Mike Ditka,” his family said in a statement. “While the world knew Mike as a Hall of Fame football player, legendary coach, and leader of the Chicago Bears’ Super Bowl XX championship team, we knew him as the heart of our family. Mike will be missed beyond measure and remembered forever.”

A cause of death was not immediately announced. Known for his fiery persona, Ditka led the 1985 Bears, a team widely regarded as having the greatest defense in the history of the NFL, to the franchise’s only Super Bowl title.

Ditka, who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1988, is one of two people in NFL history to win a league title as a player, an assistant coach and a head coach. He went from local hero to Chicago icon during an 11-year coaching stint with the Bears, then retired permanently after a failed comeback with the New Orleans Saints in 1999.

The fifth overall pick of the 1961 NFL draft by the Bears, he would become the first tight end to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. He was a part of the Bears’ 1963 NFL championship team and the Dallas Cowboys team who won Super Bowl VI.