While there are some claims that Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka had been dunked a year earlier, NFL Films president Steve Sabol has stated that he can find no evidence to support it in any footage he has reviewed and that he believes the tradition started with Parcells and Jim Burt.

In addition to the " Super Bowl Shuffle " rap song, the Bears ' success in the 1980s – and especially the personality of head coach Mike Ditka – inspired a recurring sketch on the American sketch comedy program Saturday Night Live, called " Bill Swerski's Superfans ".

Ditka worked for both the NFL on NBC and CBS's The NFL Today, and he currently works on ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown and provided Friday night analysis on the Bears on CBS 2 Chicago, the CBS Chicago affiliate, called " 2 on Football " with former CBS 2 Sports Director Mark Malone.

Needing a lead of at least 12 more points, they found themselves in the awkward position of having to " run up the score " on the Saints, a move that would upset Saints head coach Mike Ditka and many Saints players.

This featured the second appearance by their idol Mike Ditka ( he had appeared on an episode of SNL after his firing by the Bears ); although, he was at the time coaching the New Orleans Saints, which resulted in a schism amongst the Superfans.

These guys are like brothers, and he's just trying to speak on their behalf ," says Rico McClinton of Iron Mike Ditka ( McClinton produced the film along with Phifer and Joe Ruggiero ).

To replace Ditka and Kuharich, Benson settled on Randy Mueller, formerly of the Seattle Seahawks, as general manager, and Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator Jim Haslett as head coach.

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.

Jauron was named the 2001 AP Coach of the Year and became the third coach in team history to record at least 13 wins in a season, joining George Halas and Mike Ditka.

In 1997 Ditka led the team to a 6-10 record, a three-game improvement from the previous season ; the team was marked by strong defense ( anchored by defensive end Joe Johnson, middle linebacker Winfred Tubbs, and veteran cornerback Eric Allen, among others ) and inconsistent offense.

In the months before the 1999 NFL Draft, Ditka became enamored with Texas running back Ricky Williams, the Heisman Trophy winner who'd set an NCAA record for career rushing yards with the Longhorns.

Ditka is the closest Bears coach to Halas, with 112 career victories.

* Mike Ditka Coach 1997 – 1999 ( inducted for playing career with Chicago Bears and other teams, 1961 – 72 )

One irony in the Bears victory was that Payton had a relatively poor performance running the ball and never scored a touchdown in Super Bowl XX, his first and only Super Bowl appearance during his Hall of Fame career ( Many people including Mike Ditka have claimed that the reason for this due to the fact that the Patriots defensive scheme was centered around stopping Walter Payton ).

* Most own fumbles recovered or advanced for touchdowns, career: 2 ; Ken Kavanaugh, Mike Ditka, Gail Cogdill, Ahmad Rashad, Jim Mitchell, Drew Pearson, Del Rodgers, Alan Richard, and Kevin Curtis.

In a 12-year career, Ditka caught 427 passes for over 5800 yards and 43 touchdowns.

He was a solid starter during his three seasons with Mike Ditka, but his career blossomed when Jim Haslett was hired as the Saints coach in 2000 and decided to move him to the three-technique tackle within a great front four group.

The sketch stopped after Ditka was fired in 1993.

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.

Bears head coach Mike Ditka stated the inspiration for using Perry as a fullback was during five-yard sprints.

Ditka was unimpressed, as was Bears owner and founder George Halas.

McMahon was to find the atmosphere in Chicago almost as challenging as that at Brigham Young, and he would lock horns with Ditka, his coaches and teammates, and journalists routinely during his six years with the Bears.

After a falling out with Head Coach Mike Ditka, and to a larger extent team president Michael McCaskey, McMahon was traded to the San Diego Chargers.

The team was founded in 2001 and is co-owned by Mike Ditka, the Hall of Fame player and coach.

* The Rush's official mascot is a construction worker named Grabowski, a reference to Chicago's blue collar background, which was coined by Mike Ditka in January 1986 to describe the difference between his Chicago Bears and the Los Angeles Rams.

* Before ultimately choosing the nickname Rush, the team was going to be called the Chicago Paytons, to honor the late Bears ' great, Walter Payton, who, along with Ditka, was to be part owner of the team.

It was hosted by Stuart Scott along with analysts Ron Jaworski and Mike Ditka and aired from the site of the Monday night game preceding Monday Night Countdown.

He was later honored along with other HS football greats Tony Dorsett, Joe Montana and Mike Ditka to the all-time 1st team Pennsylvania football team.

Allen was also given responsibility for the Bears ' college player drafts ; most likely his best-remembered choices were three players who won election the to the NFL Hall of Fame and became household names in American sport — end Mike Ditka ( chosen in 1961 ), halfback Gale Sayers and middle linebacker Dick Butkus ( 1965 ).

Prior to the draft, there was an effort by New Orleans Saints ' head coach Mike Ditka and management to get the Cincinnati Bengals ' high draft position so the Saints could get Ricky Williams.

Rauschenberger's withdrawal was followed by a week of speculation about Mike Ditka replacing Ryan as the Republican nominee for U. S. Senate.

The pregame was rebooted again after the 2001 season with Dan Marino and Boomer Esiason joining Nantz, 2000 addition Mike Ditka and 2001 addition Deion Sanders.

Bears coach Mike Ditka said in 2005 that McMichael was the toughest player he had ever coached.

Mike Ditka said that the day before the game, he was talking to the offense while Singletary was in the next room giving the defense a motivational speech.

Enticed by the opportunity to beat Buck, Ditka accepts the position.

Also, Ditka, Dick Butkus, Walter Payton, Jim McMahon, William " Refrigerator " Perry and Brian Urlacher are among Bears figures known for their appearances in TV commercials.

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.

Thus, Chicago head coach Mike Ditka opted to go for other plays to counter the Patriots defense.

On March 12, 2007, Smith joined ESPN as a studio analyst for their NFL pregame coverage alongside Chris Berman, Mike Ditka, Tom Jackson, and Chris Mortensen.

The following year, 2006, the Chicago Rush, owned by Mike Ditka defeated the Orlando Predators 69-61 for the Rush's first championship in franchise history.

Alexis also appeared with Mike Ditka in the last episode of Cheers, " One for the Road " in 1993.

In 2002, a group of alumni at Baylor University promoted Singletary for the school's open head coaching position, holding a conference call ( which included Mike Ditka and Dave McGinnis ) with the university administration .< ref >

Typical debates involved Mike Ditka versus a hurricane ( in this particular debate, the Superfans believed that Ditka could defeat the hurricane, until it was revealed that the name of the hurricane was Hurricane Ditka, at which point Todd O ' Connor had a heart attack out of confusion ); who would win in a competition for World Domination – " Da Bearss " or " Da Bullss "; Mike Ditka winning the Indianapolis 500 driving the Bears ' team bus ; or how many points Michael Jordan could score if he played an entire game by himself while lounging in a recliner.

In 2006, George Wendt returned in Superfan garb alongside Ditka for a sketch prior to Super Bowl XL.

It was announced in June 2007 that Greenberg and Golic would also call a National Football League game together for ESPN, broadcasting the second game of ESPN's Week 1 Monday Night Football doubleheader along with former NFL coach and player Mike Ditka.

When interviewed about the draft class for nfl. com, Coach Mike Ditka stated that Bortz was a converted defensive player, with great feet, and he formed part of a solid offensive line.

Game Over ( originally titled Maximum Surge Movie ) was made by combining 65 minutes of original footage with 25 minutes of footage originally filmed for full motion video sequences in five different Digital Pictures games: Maximum Surge ( unreleased ), Corpse Killer, Prize Fighter, Supreme Warrior, and Quarterback Attack with Mike Ditka.