In honor of the Bears retiring Mike Ditka’s 89 Monday, here’s a look at Iron Mike as a player.

The stats only tell part of the story. He was the rookie of the year in 1961 with 1,076 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns. He played in five Pro Bowls and scored a touchdown for Dallas in the Super Bowl.

But there was much more to Ditka the player than stats. Dan Pompei gets to the essence of Ditka in his column at Sports on Earth.

Ditka takes us back to a better time, before there were substance abuse suspensions, concussion lawsuits, free agent mercenaries, indoor games or Jaguars. With a crewcut and a single-bar facemask, he played when men were men, when Colts were from Baltimore, and when training camp practices were more taxing than Fred Astaire ballroom dancing classes.

His intensity would have stood out in any era. “He was one of the first offensive intimidators,” said Johnny Morris, Ditka’s teammate for six years. “He would go after people like Ray Nitschke. He was the aggressor. There were so many times I’d see him throw a block, then immediately roll over and go for a second block. Most players, even great ones, are satisfied after they do their job. Not him. He was never satisfied.”

You talk about love of the game? He might have invented it. “Those 60 minutes when I played, man those were special,” Ditka said, his eyes still glinting after all these years. “I enjoyed the heck out of that. Wrigley Field, I enjoyed the mud, the slop, whatever, even people throwing beer on us when we lost going into the locker room. It was all good stuff. You turn around, give them a piece of your mind.”