Mayor Johnson, Trump, Obama remember football ‘titan’ Mike Ditka

Hours before the Willis Towers’ antennas were set to light up in Bears blue and orange to honor Mike Ditka, whose death was announced Friday morning, Mayor Brandon Johnson acknowledged Ditka’s family, the city and “all who love Iron Mike.”

“Today, we lost a titan of the game and a hero of Chicago,” Johnson wrote in a statement on social media. “Mike Ditka revolutionized football and delivered glory to our great city on and off the field.”

He was among the dozens of political officials taking to social media to celebrate Ditka’s life.

Former President Barack Obama posted his own message on X with a photo of himself and Ditka holding up a Bears jersey emblazoned with Obama and the number 85 during a 2011 ceremony honoring the 1985 Super Bowl team at the White House.

The team’s original trip to the White House to meet Ronald Reagan had been scrapped following the explosion of the Challenger space shuttle that year.

Obama said that when he arrived in Chicago in 1985, Ditka and the championship team “were king.” It was high praise from a man Ditka once called the “worst president we’ve ever had” while voicing his support for President Donald Trump and former president Ronald Reagan.

“Coach Ditka set the tone for a team that was punishing, dominant, and fun — and the city loved him for it,” Obama wrote on social media. “I’m thinking of the Ditka family and Bears fans everywhere on the passing of a legend.”

Trump, who was informed of Ditka’s passing during a news briefing Friday, said the late coach was “great” while touting his support while he was alive.

“He was a great guy,” Trump told reporters. “He was with me all the way. He was tough. That’s a sad one.”

Illinois officials posted their own tributes to “da coach,” as U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin called him in his message. Durbin, who announced last year that he would step down after five terms in the U.S. Senate and seven terms in the U.S. House, said Ditka coached with “style, grace, and respect for the game.”

“No Bears fan will ever forget the day when the Monsters of the Midway triumphed over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XX,” Durbin said in a social media post. “Loretta and I will be praying for his family, friends, and former players as well as the millions of Chicagoans and Bears fans in mourning.”

“Few people are as synonymous with Chicago as Mike Ditka,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth said in her own statement on social media. “Illinois will miss him dearly, but his legacy will never be forgotten. My heart goes out to his family and everyone who loved Da Coach.”

Longtime political consultant and former Obama advisor David Axelrod also expressed condolences for Ditka while sharing a story of filming a political campaign ad with him for former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley.

“When he popped in to do the spot, I started to explain what we were going for,” Axelrod wrote. “He looked at me with a withering stare and said, ‘Just turn on the F-ing camera. I know what I want to say.’ He always did.”