Mike Ditka gives stamp of approval to the 2018 Chicago Bears: Next stop, Super Bowls

We’ve been waiting for this.

We know you have been too.

Legendary Chicago Bears’ Icon, “Iron” Mike Ditka (aka Da Coach), has finally weighed in on the 2018 version of our Chicago Bears. Some of you guys may think the game has passed the 78-year old Hall of Famer by, but then some of you guys would be wrong.

“The Bears are trying to win and Matt’s [Nagy] a good coach, a very good coach,” Ditka said via NBC Chicago. He could have stopped at “good,” but he took it one step further and said “very good.”

“I think they got to put the pieces together, they know what they want to do. They’re in the process of trying to draft the right people, put the right people in, work with the people they already have.”

‘All the pieces in place’ is a Wannyism, but it fits here as well. General manager Ryan Pace kept what was working with the 2017 Bears and added to it. Pace built the coaching staff up and added talented offensive play-makers all to help Mr. Face Of The Franchise, Mitchell “His Momma calls him Mitchell, so I’m gonna call him Mitchell” Trubuisky.

Ditka calls Trubisky “great,” and while some of you may thing that’s too great an adjective to use, keep in mind it was verbalized by Da Coach. He’s not one to frivolously throw around hyperbole. “I like Mitch a lot, I really do. I think he is a good leader and has a lot of talent,” Ditka told NBC Sports on Monday. “I know he has heart and I think that’s the main thing.”

Talent will only get you so far in the National Football League if you don’t have heart, and Trubisky has the heart and the passion of a young Jim McMahon. In fact, Ditka was hanging out with Jimmy Mac on Sunday, and he compared the two via NBC Chicago. He said McMahon, “wasn’t the most talented guy in the world but he knew how to play the position. He wanted to win. I think that’s the way Mitch is, but I think Mitch is a very, very talented guy.”

It sounds like the Bears are getting a guy with the intangibles of a Mad Mac, but the arm talent of a Greek God.

Ditka knows it’ll take a total effort to be a truly great team, which is why he took time to praise all three phases of the game under Nagy. “I think you win in this league by understanding you got to control the football, play great defense, you got to match up well on special teams. I think they’ll do that.”

With Vic Fangio coordinating the D, and Dave Toub disciple, Chris Tabor, coordinating the special teams, the sky is the limit for this team. I’m think a modern-age Dynasty is on the horizon, with a minimum sixpeat kicking off this year.

That’s not to say these Bears will roll through the schedule à la the 1985 Bears, because the Packers, Vikings, and Lions are going to be tough, but a 14-2, or a 13-3 season could be in the cards.

“I think that’s the big thing they have to do, really concentrate on those three teams in their division. Everything else will work out,” so sayeth Da Coach. “You’re going to play some good teams, we know that, but take care of your division and let the other chips fall where they may. I think they got a very good chance, I like what they’re doing.”

We like what they’re doing as well, which is why we’ve already got our tickets ordered for Atlanta (2019), South Florida (2020), Tampa Bay (2021), Los Angeles (2022), Glendale (2023), and in what will be an epic party-like-it’s-1985 event, New Orleans (2024).

Which of these next six Bears’ Super Bowls are you guys most looking forward to seeing?