'Focus' not in vocabulary of Ditka's Bears

I'm jealous of the New England Patriots, so let's play some fantasy football.

Like, imagine if Bill Belichick, their combination cheater/coach, ran the Bears back in the 1980s.

Yes, sorry, instead of Mike Ditka.

You think the Bears would have won more than one Super Bowl? You think they would have won, well, who knows how many more?

Those Bears represent the best and worst of Chicago sports, a one-year wonder that should have been a decade-long dynasty.

They are as memorable for what might have been -- actually what should have been -- as for what was.

How good were Ditka's Bears? For an eight-year period starting in 1984, their regular-season record was 90-37.

Meanwhile, for the past eight years Belichick's Pats are 91-37.

That's a 1-victory difference, the game the Bears missed because the 1987 season was cut short by a labor dispute.

So the records essentially were the same -- yet the Bears won one Super Bowl and the Patriots are favored to win their fourth.

The excuses, er, reasons for the Bears' unfulfilled promise are countless and complex.

Defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan left after the Super Bowl XX victory. Quarterback Jim McMahon couldn't stay healthy. Mike McCaskey failed to create a united organizational family.

Then there was Ditka, the man more responsible than anyone for winning a Super Bowl and -- in my mind -- for not winning another.

The blessing and curse of that group of players were the same -- they were wild and crazy guys.

The Bears were comprised of cartoon characters and super heroes, and no NFL team in history was as much fun.

They were the Punky QB, the Fridge, Mongo, Sweetness, Danimal, Samurai, Jimbo and Otis My Man, to name a few.

Oh, yeah, and a coach nicknamed Iron Mike.

The Bears were individuals of varied interests. If the universe had enough planets, each of those guys might have gone off on his own to a rock of his own.

That team needed a head coach who could keep its personalities from straying too far outside the box. Instead, Ditka became as big a character as any of them and a lesser coach as a result.

I'm not sure I would have traded that Ditka for this Belichick, because on a daily basis that Bears team was the NFL's most entertaining ever.

But if winning Super Bowls is the objective -- and anybody on any level of pro football would agree it is -- Belichick would have to be your coach.

From the Spygate scandal to Randy Moss to questions about going undefeated, these Patriots had nearly as many distractions as those Bears had.

But the monotone, single-minded, generally humorless Belichick has minimized them.

As a Detroit News headline read last week, "All eyes on 'job': Businesslike approach has served the Patriots well."

As Tom Brady said, "Whatever else was going on in your life, you put aside."

If only all those Bears could say the same, or at least given the impression they felt that way.

If only Ryan stuck around, McMahon stayed healthy and McCaskey was a better owner.

Most of all, though, if only Mike Ditka had been Bill Belichick and tied everything together in one focused package.

Then I wouldn't have to be jealous enough of the Pats to play fantasy football with those Bears.

mimrem@dailyherald.com