An Open Letter To Mike Ditka

As a Bears fan, this is going to be tough for me to do, but I'll try my best.

Dear Mr. Ditka,

As a born and raised Chicagoan, I was a Bears fan since the day I entered this world.

You were the coach of my favorite team, not just the Bears but my favorite team, the 1985 Chicago Bears. It's what got me into football. Watching Walter Payton and Jim McMahon on Sunday coupled with the team's ferocious defense, I was sold.

I still talk about that team and year to this day. I have a 10-year-old who watches the games with me now and he asks what it was like watching the Bears when they were good.

I would tell him, "They were glorious, the Bears wouldn't just outscore the other team, they would beat them into submission." How I long for those days of yesteryear when the Bears were relevant.

After a few disaster seasons under a coach that shall remain nameless, it appeared that the Bears and their fans finally had something to cheer about.

We were kind of happy! The Bears, while still not winning all of their games, had fans excited about the future until earlier this month, when I saw this:

Mike Ditka wearing a Green Bay Packers sweater? After all those years, you traded in the navy blue and orange for green and gold? I couldn't believe it! I knew it was just a commercial but it still felt like a punch in the gut.

Then the craziest thing happened. The Green Bay Packers started losing. Matter of fact, they hadn't won a game since the commercial first aired.

Suddenly, I was OK with my beloved Coach Ditka wearing the green and gold. That was, until this past Sunday when I saw this:

That's right, Coach Ditka took off the Packers sweater and threw it off his balcony. You'd think that all of a sudden, everything was right with the world. The Packers had lost three games in a row and the Bears were on a hot streak.

Something crazy happened after that commercial aired though. The Bears lost and the Packers won. So now I'm torn, with a mix of emotions tying me up in knots I have come to a crossroads with my Bears fandom. I see Coach Ditka ditched the green and gold only to have the Packers win while the Bears lose. As a fan what do I do?

The only thing a Bear fan can do. I beg, I plead, with you Coach Ditka, do all of us Bears fans a favor and put on the Packers sweater.

Thanks,
Sweet Lenny