Among Rookie Tight Ends, Bears' Mike Ditka Still Reigns as 'The Man'

By John Turney

When it comes to NFL tight ends Mike Ditka is still The Man. For 64 years, all tight ends who entered the NFL failed to top two records he set back in 1961. 

It doesn't matter that the length of the NFL schedule increased from 14 to 16 games in 1978 and then to 17 in 2021. It doesn't matter that the NFL has become more and more pass-oriented with each year, either. Nor does it matter that the passing game is more complex, with quarterbacks more accurate than ever. Tight ends entering the NFL cannot break Ditka's rookie receiving records.

He still holds the league's rookie benchmarks for most receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. And he did it in 1961. 

That year, the future Hall-of-Famer caught 56 passes for 1,076 yards and 12  touchdowns. He also had a hefty 19.2-yard average per catch -- not a small thing in and of itself. All were the most for what was then a recently created position in pro football. 

His receptions record held until 1988 when Keith Jackson, then a rookie tight end for the Eagles, broke it with 81 catches. That record lasted until last season when Lions' rookie Sam LaPorta topped it with 86 receptions. Then it was broken again this year by Raiders' rookie phenom Brock Bowers. 

He has 90 catches with three games to go and is on pace to finish with 109. However, even with 34 more receptions than Ditka in 1961, Bowers still trails Ditka by 108 receiving yards. That's because Bowers averages fewer than 11 yards a catch; Ditka was a hair over 19 per grab.

Big difference.

Yep, Ditka is still The Man.

Bowers will eclipse Ditka's record this weekend or next, and surely by the end of the season ... but he won't have done it in 14 games. Over a 17-game schedule, Ditka's average per game would translate to just over 1,300 yards. 

Bowers won't be close to 12 touchdown receptions, either, unless he scores nine times in the next three games (he has four now), which is next to impossible. 

Thus, Ditka will remain The Man.

The TD reception record is so noteworthy that only two rookie tight ends have come close to challenging it -- Sam LaPorta last year and Rob Gronkowski in 2010. Each had 10. In fact, Ditka's 12 TD catches are surpassed by only four rookie players in NFL history ... regardless of position. 

Randy Moss had 17 in 1998 and Ja'Mar Chase (2021), John Jefferson (1978) and Billy Howton (1953) are tied for second with 13. All are outside receivers. The only one who occasionally would've played close to the line of scrimmage would've been Howton.

When records are challenged -- especially when they go way back into history -- they can teach us about how the game's evolved and give us reason to reflect on what and how it happened. But they do more than that. They make us remember that Mike Ditka was more than the coach of the Super Bowl XX champion Chicago Bears.

In this case, history highlights how significant a player Mike Ditka was when he emerged from the University of Pittsburgh as Chicago's first-round draft pick. There were tight ends before Ditka, including the guy he replaced -- Willard Dewveall -- who was pretty good. Even so, tight end was a relatively new position in pro football, with some teams not using one. 

In the 1950s, teams began flanking halfbacks outside the ends and splitting out one end as a basic formation instead of motioning a back outside the ends, who were "tight" ... or on the line of scrimmage. It was effective, and teams added it to their offensive schemes.

Eventually, it became permanent.

This explains why Ditka was not an AP All-Pro in 1961. The AP ballot didn't have a slot for a tight end, so voters had to pick two ends, a flanker, fullback and halfback. Ends voted as All-Pro outside receivers were the kind voters were used to -- pass catchers streaking downfield, not those close to the line of scrimmage, working the middle and spending much of his time blocking.  

However, the NEA All-Pro poll was more reflective of how football was played. In its polling of NFL players, Ditka was a first-team All-Pro. That's because there was a slot for him in a poll structured by astute writer Murray Olderman, who recognized the changes in NFL positions. "Mike (Ditka) is the tight end," he wrote, and, for the first time, ends were designated as "tight" and "split."

That's how Ditka became the first All-Pro "tight end." He was so far ahead of the curve that a position on a major "all" team had to be created for him. Talk about changing the game.

Now, let's jump to this year.

Bowers has a legitimate shot of becoming an AP first-team All-Pro, but he's no lock. He must contend with San Francisco's George Kittle, who -- having made it twice (including last year) -- is more entrenched. However, if Bowers does, he becomes just the fourth rookie tight end to make the team, following Charle (spelled Charlie at the time) Young in 1973, Keith Jackson in 1988 and Jeremy Shockey in 2002

Nevertheless, I count the NEA All-Pro team, as it's recognized by the Pro Football Hall of Fame and "Total Football: Official Encyclopedia of the NFL." It includes Ditka in the list of rookie tight ends who were first-team All-Pros, and it should.

Because Mike Ditka was The Man.