There were some painful Ditka years at the end though too. I remember loving the Bears and watching some of those hard-to-watch games. CBS had the Bears on with John Madden like every Sunday for us to watch them flail.
Not really true on Ditka. Only in his final year did they really fall off and a lot of that was some of the older guys dropping off
Ditka as coach
1982 = 3-6
1983 = 8-8
1984 = 10-6 (1-1 in playoffs)
1985 = 15-1 (3-0 in playoffs)
1986 = 14-2 (0-1 in playoffs)
1987 = 11-4 (0-1 in playoffs)
1988 = 12-4 (1-1 in playoffs)
1989 = 6-10
1990 = 11-5 (1-1 in playoffs)
1991 = 11-5 (0-1 in playoffs)
1992 = 5-11
Honestly Ditka could have continued for several more years (And likely would have still done well enough). But Michael McCaskey hated him and wanted to get rid of him for years ,, He jumped on first chance he got in 92 when Bears struggled