Ron Rivera Believes Mike Ditka Sabotaged Dave Wannstedt

The Chicago Bears Super Bowl era is punctuated a remarkable roller coaster ride that spanned entire decades. For most of the 1970s they were terrible. One of the worst teams in football. Then in the 1980s they flipped the script and became one of the best. Again the switch came in the 1990s where they were perennially bad before bouncing back again in the 2000s. That might explain why the franchise is mired in the mud so far in the 2010s. Ron Rivera though thinks it didn't have to be that way. Chicago is set to face off with his Carolina Panthers this Sunday at Soldier Field. It marks the first time the two teams have met since 2014. Rivera is of course Bears royalty. He was on the iconic 1985 team as a backup linebacker and then was defensive coordinator for the 2006 team that reached the Super Bowl. He is the only Bears alum to hold that distinction. Now he's coming home to try and get his team another victory. Nonetheless this allowed the Bears media to catch up with him and get his thoughts about this need breed in Chicago. His most interesting comments though were saved for a forgotten part of team history. (continue to next page)

Ron Rivera thinks Ditka set up Wannstedt up to fail

Dave Wannstedt has a dubious reputation these days. While most don't find the former Bears head coach unlikable as a person, they do feel he was a prolonged disaster at his job. In six seasons he went 40-56 in Chicago, making the playoffs just once. He ran the show most of the 1990s and it was a long stream of mediocrity. According to Rivera though, a lot of that wasn't his fault. Talking with Dan Pompei of The Athletic, he revealed that much of what happened during Wannstedt's run was brought on by what his predecessor Mike Ditka did prior to his exit in 1993.

"One of the things coach Ditka and I talked about when I was getting into coaching is how we had gotten old at the end of his tenure. I said, “That’s because you were so loyal to so many of us.” If you go back and look at that group of guys who transitioned from Mike Ditka to Dave Wannstedt, there were a lot of eight, nine, 10 year players. That was a problem. It was tough for Dave Wannstedt to rebuild something when expectations were so high."

He's not wrong. In 1993 when Wannstedt took over the Bears roster had 14 players who were 29-years old or older. Eight of them were starters. It was apparent that a rebuild was right around the corner and that the team had done a poor job of refilling the pool with young talent. Wannstedt kept things afloat for three years, going 9-7 in 1994 and 1995 but things finally fell apart after that. Even NFL Films realized what was coming when he arrived. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xroTlvOWqnM

Wannstedt was a coach that could only win if he had talent

Of course part of the collapse was his own fault. He had a hand in personnel decisions through the first couple years of his tenure. From 1993 to 1997 they failed to draft a single Pro Bowler. The two players who did reach one didn't do so until they were with other teams. That calls his coaching ability into question. At the same time he inherited a strong roster with the Miami Dolphins in 2000 and made the playoffs his first two years. So what Rivera says holds merit. Ditka failing to usher in a  new breed of players after his initial run in the '80s made it so Wannstedt inherited a car that was almost out of gas. So while the guy was never a great coach, he may deserve a little less criticism than what he got during his run.