Bears’ Mike Ditka, Devin Hester, Virginia McCaskey in spotlight at Super Bowl LIV

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The Bears had a strong presence at the Super Bowl despite not being in the game, and former coach Mike Ditka drew a roar from the crowd at Hard Rock Stadium when he was shown on the big screen in a pre-game celebration for the NFL 100 team.

The league grouped honorees by teams or categories, and included Ditka with Junior Seau, Joe Schmidt and Dick Butkus as players whose names, “just sound like football.”

Former Bears star Devin Hester, who is eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2022, was among 14 players, “who can do something special every time they touch the ball.”

Ditka and Hester were the only former Bears on the field for the presentation. The Bears had six other players selected to the all-time team: Butkus, Gale Sayers, George Halas, Doug Atkins, Bill Hewitt and Dan Fortmann.

Bears owner Virginia McCaskey, who watched the game from a suite and took a selfie with Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury and owner Michael Bidwill, also made an appearance in the pre-game hype.

The NFL introduced the game with a video starring 12-year-old football player and YouTube sensation Bunchie Young that ended with McCaskey, flanked by Peyton Manning and “Mean” Joe Greene handing him a ball and saying, “You know what to do,” before he ran onto the field with dozens of kids to fire up the crowd.

McCaskey’s part was filmed two weeks earlier at the Walter Payton Center, a Bears spokesperson said. Greene, Manning and Young traveled to Lake Forest to tape it with her in front of a green screen.