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By Madison Williams
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Former Chicago Bears player and coach Mike Ditka died at age 86 on Oct. 9. The Bears will host their first home game since the Pro Football Hall of Famer's death on Thursday night when facing the New England Patriots.
The Bears plan to honor Ditka in multiple ways on Thursday night, starting with the fans who will be in attendance at Soldier Field. Every fan attending the game will receive a replica mustache to mimic Ditka's iconic look, per The Chicago Sun-Times. Then, the first 10,000 fans arriving will get a headband that looks like Ditka's famous knit sweater—You know the one. The crowd's going to be decked out, and there will surely be some Ditka lookalikes.
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Fans watching at home will also witness some of the ways the Bears plan to pay homage to the legend. The Bears will have a stencil on the grass of Ditka. There will be a video tribute shown of the coach, too. Then, the Amazon Prime Video broadcast will show the National Anthem and the moment of silence Soldier Field holds to honor Ditka.
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The players debuted a patch dedicated to Ditka the last two games after Ditka died. The patch is a football with Ditka's retired No. 89 shown in the middle. The patch is placed over the players' hearts. The Bears will sport the patches for the rest of the 2026 season.
Ditka deserves all of these memorials. He will forever remain a legend of the NFL as a player and as a coach, specifically with the Bears organization. The city of Chicago has always loved Ditka, and that much is clear based on everything the team is doing for him on Thursday night.
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