Page "New Orleans Saints" Paragraph 11

After the end of the 1996 season, ironically as Diliberto had suggested before Mora's resignation, former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka was hired to replace Mora.

Although this initially generated a lot of excitement among Saints fans, Ditka's tenure ended up being a failure.

The Saints went 6 – 10 in their first two seasons under Ditka ( 1997 and 1998 ).

During the 1999 NFL Draft, Ditka traded all of his picks for that season, as well as the first-round and third-round picks for the following season, to the Washington Redskins in order to draft University of Texas Heisman Trophy running back Ricky Williams in the first round.

Ditka and Williams had a mock wedding picture taken to commemorate the occasion.

However, Ditka, most of his coaching staff, and general manager Bill Kuharich were fired at the end of the 1999 season due to the club's 3 – 13 record.