The Chicago Bears fired legendary coach Mike Ditka on Jan. 5, 1993, Four days later, in Saturday Night Live's cold open, the recurring "Super Fans" characters, famous supporters of "Da Bears," wrote a protest letter to the team, with Ditka himself making a cameo at the end. We've come across footage of him taping that appearance, and it is wonderful—Ditka at his gum-chewing, no-guff-taking, sweater-wearing, star-spangled best.


Setting aside that Ditka was neither live nor in New York when doing the cameo, it's funny to see how the now-ESPN analyst handled being on camera back before it was his career. He's especially frustrated at having to do the scene multiple times, telling an unseen director that he doesn't do multiple takes "even when I'm getting paid for it." Here's how the scene looked when it aired on TV:

Now that Ditka's hawking products from sausages to Overstock.com, we figure his tune has changed a bit in the past 20 years.