It was Mike Ditka who made it happen, who put aside the wisecracks and snide cracks and thawed a feud with Buddy Ryan that Ryan said he never knew existed.
But it was Ryan who allowed it to happen, who returned Ditka's bear hug when the coaches and players got together on the occasion of the 1985 Super Bowl champions' 25th anniversary in 2010.
They were both in their 70s by then, Ryan nearly 80, and the creative, and ... ok, personal ... differences that were revealed most graphically when the '85 Bears defense carried Ryan off the field following their Super Bowl XX rout, just didn't seem worth it anymore.