The lifestyle in the NFL often doesn’t give head coaches much of an opportunity to follow the news. On Friday morning, Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell had yet to hear about former Chicago Bears tight end and head coach Mike Ditka passing away Friday at 86 years old.
Campbell learned of the sad news on the podium when a reporter asked how well he had know Ditka.
“No, I didn’t know that,” Campbell shockingly said when asked if he heard about the former coach’s death. “Gosh. Wow.”
The Lions head coach then proceeded to share how he met Ditka at the 1999 NFL combine.
“[He was] Somebody I just loved. Growing up, man, Ditka was it. [I’m a] huge fan. So when I’m able to come out, going to the combine, the Saints wanted to meet with me, in particular, Mike Ditka. Tight end, hell of a player. Hell of a coach. The whole thing, so I’m already like, ‘Ok,'” said Campbell.
At the time, Ditka was the New Orleans Saints head coach. Campbell said he assumed he was going to meet with Ditka and other members of the Saints organization at the combine.
Instead, Campbell’s meeting with the Saints was a 1-on-1 conversation with Dika.
“I go in and there’s one little light on, it’s like a little lamp in the corner … and there’s nothing in there. There’s no couches, the room is totally cleaned out, and there’s one little table. And the room is full of smoke. I mean, you can’t hardly see him, you just see this image off in the corner, this little lamp and smoke everywhere, and he’s got that big, fat cigar,” said Campbell.
“It was one of the best times of my life and most intimating times of my life sitting across from Mike Ditka. It was awesome, though, man.”
Dan Campbell Remembers Mike Ditka
Ditka was larger than life for a lot of football fans. Campbell particularly loved Ditka because they played the same position.
Before he became a famous head coach, Ditka made the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a player. He set rookie tight end records with 56 catches, 1,076 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns during his first season in 1961. Ditka averaged 19.2 yards per catch.
He made the Pro Bowl in each of his first five years. Ditka also made first-team All-Pro twice and second-team All-Pro on three occasions from 1961-66.
After six seasons with the Bears, Ditka spent two years with the Philadelphia Eagles and then four with the Dallas Cowboys. Ditka was part of the Cowboys first championship in 1971 when they won Super Bowl V. He then coached under legendary head coach Tom Landry for nine years until returning to Chicago to become the Bears head coach.
Campbell wasn’t the player Ditka was. Campbell never made the Pro Bowl even once in his career. But he played tight end for 10 years in the NFL, including three for the Cowboys. Campbell was then an assistant in New Orleans before his first full-time coaching gig with the Lions.
Because Campbell hadn’t heard about Ditka’s passing yet, NFL fans received the rare opportunity to see his honest, initial reaction to the news. Campbell sharing his memory of Ditka made the moment Friday even better.
“My thoughts and prayers go out to his family,” Campbell concluded. “He’s a legend. He’s a legend.”
Lions’ Dan Campbell Shares Mike Ditka Story After Legend’s Passing