Mike Ditka, the Hall of Fame tight end and legendary Chicago Bears coach who delivered the franchise its only Super Bowl title, has died at 86.
The news was first delivered by Jarrett Payton, 44, the son of Bears icon Walter Payton, during his regular appearance on 104.3 The Score’s “Haugh & Payton” show in Chicago on Friday. Payton received a phone call with the information live on air, telling listeners he had no official press release yet but that confirmation was coming.
“I just got a phone call that Mike Ditka has passed away,” Payton said on the radio program. “It’s hitting me because I was not expecting this phone call. We do not have the press release but it should be on the way.”
Payton, who was seven years old when the 1985 Bears steamrolled through the NFL, struggled to contain his emotions as he spoke about what Ditka meant to his family after Walter Payton’s death from liver disease in 1999.
“But it saddens me to give this information to the city of Chicago. Everyone knows how much Coach means to me and my family and to the city and to the Chicago Bears,” he continued on air. “He has been nothing but an amazing person for my entire family but also somebody that always made sure I was OK, that our family was OK and always kept up with us.”
Payton added that Ditka never failed to show up when needed. “Any time that we needed him, he was always there. This is a lot for me from everything that’s happened to Matt [Suhey] to this,” he said, referencing the recent death of fullback Matt Suhey over Labor Day weekend.
Ditka’s family confirmed the death in a statement shared through Jarrett Payton on X. “It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved husband, father, grandfather, and friend, Mike Ditka,” the family wrote. “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.”
Born in Pennsylvania, Ditka built his football identity first as a player. As a rookie in 1961, “Iron Mike” became the first tight end in NFL history to record over 1,000 receiving yards. He won an NFL championship with Chicago in 1963, then captured a Super Bowl ring as a member of the Dallas Cowboys’ Super Bowl VI-winning squad in 1972. After retiring as a player, he joined Tom Landry’s coaching staff and earned another title as an assistant on the Super Bowl XII championship team in 1978. He became the first tight end inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1988.
The Bears hired Ditka as head coach in 1982, with the franchise struggling in the years since founder George Halas had stopped prowling the sidelines. Ditka engineered a dramatic turnaround, posting a 62-17 record over a dominant five-season stretch that culminated in Super Bowl XX. The Bears dismantled the New England Patriots 46-10 in that January 1986 championship game, a victory powered by the revolutionary 46 defense orchestrated by coordinator Buddy Ryan and executed by a roster brimming with outsized personalities.
The 1985 Bears became one of the most celebrated teams in NFL history, their swagger and collective charisma amplified by Ditka’s gruff, cigar-chomping presence on the sideline. The team remains deeply embedded in Chicago sports culture nearly four decades later.
Ditka’s tenure in Chicago ended abruptly when the Bears fired him after the 1992 season. He moved into broadcasting with NBC before returning to coaching with the New Orleans Saints in 1997. His three seasons there produced a 15-33 record and one of the most notorious transactions in league history: Ditka traded his entire 1999 draft to move up and select Texas running back Ricky Williams.
Health problems had shadowed Ditka in his later years. He survived a heart attack and two strokes, and he had largely stepped back from public life. A September profile in reports said that he and his wife Diana had relocated to Chicago after spending years in Florida.
The Bears have not yet announced any public memorial plans.