Chicago lost a legend today. Mike Ditka, the Hall of Fame player and coach who led the Bears to their only Super Bowl championship and became one of the most recognizable figures in Chicago sports history, died Friday at 86.
Within hours, one of the city’s most visible billboards had changed to honor him.
Old National Bank, working with Chicago agency Schafer Condon Carter (SCC), quickly replaced the message on its Kennedy Expressway billboard with a simple tribute:
“Thanks for the ’86 win. And the 86 years. Long Live Da Coach.”
It is a fittingly Chicago goodbye to a man whose identity became inseparable from the city. Ditka arrived in Chicago as a player after the Bears selected him fifth overall in the 1961 NFL Draft. He helped redefine the tight end position, won an NFL championship with the Bears in 1963 and eventually became the first tight end inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
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Mike Ditka, Bears legend and Chicago icon, dies at 86
But his return as head coach transformed him into “Da Coach.” Ditka took over the Bears in 1982 and, three years later, led one of the most iconic teams in NFL history. The 1985 Bears finished the regular season 15-1 before dominating New England 46-10 in Super Bowl XX on January 26, 1986. The championship remains the franchise’s only Super Bowl victory.
Over time, Ditka became something larger than his record.
The mustache, sweater vest, temper, cigar and sideline stare turned him into a character instantly recognizable even outside football. Saturday Night Live’s “Bill Swerski’s Superfans” sketches helped turn “Da Bears” and “Da Coach” into permanent pieces of Chicago pop culture.
Tributes poured in across the city Friday. The Bears remembered Ditka as a treasured figure whose impact on the organization was “immeasurable,” while former players, Chicago sports teams and personalities shared memories of a man frequently described as larger than life.
The Kennedy billboard gives that citywide grief a physical presence.
Old National owns the highly visible space overlooking the expressway and changes its creative every day, producing 365 messages a year. The copy often reacts quickly to whatever Chicago is talking about, from sports rivalries to local moments, with SCC giving the board a distinctly conversational personality.
On Friday, there wasn’t much need for cleverness.
Just gratitude.
The reference to the “’86 win” recalls the Super Bowl victory that cemented Ditka’s place in Chicago history, while “the 86 years” marks the life of the man whose death was announced Friday morning. And the final line says what plenty of Chicagoans were already feeling:
Long Live Da Coach.
