{"id":877818,"date":"2026-10-10T20:32:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T20:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/877818\/"},"modified":"2026-10-10T20:32:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T20:32:14","slug":"as-bears-intend-to-build-a-dome-mike-ditka-would-not-approve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/877818\/","title":{"rendered":"As Bears intend to build a dome, Mike Ditka would not approve"},"content":{"rendered":"

The passing of larger-than-life NFL legend Mike Ditka has sparked a flood of great stories and clips from Ditka\u2019s time in football. Many of them stand out. There\u2019s one that\u2019s particularly relevant to the Bears\u2019 ongoing quest to vacate Soldier Field for a venue with a roof.<\/p>\n

In December 1987, as the Bears prepared for their annual trip to the Metrodome in Minneapolis, Ditka went off on football not played in the elements.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just don\u2019t like indoor domes<\/a>,\u201d Ditka said. \u201cThey weren\u2019t meant for football. Football is meant to play it outside and on grass. . . . Indoor domes should be useful for roller rinks. That\u2019s all they should be for. Roller skating.\u201d<\/p>\n

That same week, Ditka skated through the Bears\u2019 offices in rollerblades.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were a gift,\u201d Ditka said. “[Vikings G.M.] Mike Lynn sprung for them. That might refute everything I\u2019ve heard about him from his players.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bears won the \u201cRollerdome<\/a>\u201d game, 30-24, on a late touchdown pass from Mike Tomczak to Dennis Gentry.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did what I did about the dome for certain reasons,\u201d Ditka said after the victory. \u201cTo get the pressure off the players and get it on me. And I think for that point, it worked.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ditka then made a point that hopefully will resonate with today\u2019s coaches.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf people don\u2019t like the things I do, that\u2019s just a point of life,\u201d Ditka said. \u201cThere\u2019s gotta be some levity in life, and there\u2019s gotta be a little bit of fun had. And we take this whole thing seriously, like it\u2019s life and death. It\u2019s not life and death. We\u2019re gonna go out and play as hard as we can. We\u2019re gonna be great representatives of the city of Chicago, the Chicago Bear organization. That\u2019s all we\u2019re trying to do is be something that people can be proud of. But, you know, if I\u2019m not gonna have any fun on my way there, partner, I just \u2014 they got the wrong guy, because, you know, I said a long time ago, maybe the NFL is a little bit too staid and true in its ways. Maybe it takes somebody to loosen them up a little bit. And our players do that, so why shouldn\u2019t the coach be a little wacky?\u201d<\/p>\n

Current Bears coach Ben Johnson seems to already be living that message. With the first game after Ditka\u2019s passing coming against the Packers at Lambeau Field, maybe Johnson will take it up a notch.<\/p>\n

Back to Ditka\u2019s point. Football really is meant to be played outside and on grass. Unfortunately, the indoor ship seems to have sailed. The Commanders, Browns, Titans, and Chiefs are currently moving toward swapping the elements for a roller rink. And the Bears inevitably will join them, whether that\u2019s in Chicago, Arlington Heights, or Hammond, Indiana.<\/p>\n

Whoever the coach of the Vikings is at the time should show up for the first game to be played there on roller skates, as the ultimate homage to Ditka.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The passing of larger-than-life NFL legend Mike Ditka has sparked a flood of great stories and clips from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":877819,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[349,99],"class_list":["post-877818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=877818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877818\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/877819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=877818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=877818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=877818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}