Dispirited Ditka Set To Quit

The Atlanta Falcons put together their first winning streak - two games - in more than two years, which seemed to convince Mike Ditka that he made a mistake coming back to coaching.

Chris Chandler threw two touchdown passes in the second half, including a 36-yarder to Bert Emanuel, and host Atlanta shut down the New Orleans Saints 20-3 Sunday.

“My job is to instill passion in these guys,” Ditka said. “Somewhere along the way, I have failed. It hurts me.”

Ditka said he likely will quit at the end of the season if things don’t turn around in the final four games. And, he added, if owner Tom Benson wants to fire him now, he wouldn’t object.

“I don’t have it anymore,” he said. “Maybe the game has passed me by. Maybe all the experts were right. I had a way of trying to coach and getting to people and I can’t do it anymore.”

Benson and general manager Bill Kuharich declined comment to WWL radio. Kuharich said he wanted to speak with Ditka before making any comment on the coach’s future.

The Falcons had not won two straight games since the fifth week of the 1995 season, when Atlanta finished off a three-game winning streak on its way to the playoffs.

“It’s good to win two in a row,” Atlanta coach Dan Reeves said. “It’s been a long time coming. It wasn’t what you would call pretty, but we don’t deal in being pretty. We just want to win.”

After a sloppy first half in which Morten Andersen kicked two field goals against his former team to give Atlanta a 6-3 lead, the Falcons blew the game open.

Todd Kinchen had a 20-yard punt return to the Saints 47, and the Falcons capitalized three plays later when Chandler hooked up with Emanuel for the game’s first touchdown. Emanuel got a step on cornerback Alex Molden and hauled in the scoring pass with 5:10 remaining in the third quarter.

Packers 45, Cowboys 17

Brett Favre threw four touchdown passes and Dorsey Levens rushed for a team-record 190 yards as Green Bay snapped an eight-game losing streak against Dallas.

The defending NFL champions won their 25th straight at Lambeau Field, where the wind chill was minus-4 at kickoff.

Levens broke Jim Taylor’s 36-year-old Packers record of 186 yards rushing in a game.

Cardinals 16, Ravens 13

At Baltimore, Arizona got its first road win of the season when Joe Nedney kicked a 43-yard field goal as time expired.

The Ravens tied it on a 34-yard field goal by Matt Stover with 34 seconds left. But Arizona QB Jake Plummer, making his fifth NFL start, moved the Cardinals 55 yards in six plays to set up Nedney’s third field goal of the game.

Oilers 31, Bills 14

At Memphis, Steve McNair ran for two touchdowns and threw for a third against one of the NFL’s stingiest defenses as Tennessee kept its slim playoff hopes alive.

The Oilers rushed for 163 yards, including 93 in 25 carries by Eddie George, who just missed his seventh 100-yard game of the year.

Lions 32, Colts 10

At Pontiac, Mich., Barry Sanders rushed for 216 yards and two touchdowns, including an 80-yarder, as Detroit routed Indianapolis.

Sanders topped 100 yards for the 10th straight game and became the first running back in NFL history to score three touchdowns on runs of 80 or more yards in one season. Sanders has 1,427 yards with four games remaining.

Patriots 27, Dolphins 24

At Foxboro, Mass., Dan Marino threw interceptions that Jimmy Hitchcock and Larry Whigham returned for touchdowns, and Whigham got another interception at the goal line to stop a fourth-quarter comeback as New England beat Miami.

The Dolphins pulled within three points on Karim Abdul-Jabbar’s third TD run of the second half with 10 seconds left. Miami then recovered an onside kick, but the game ended after two incompletions by Marino.

Jets 23, Vikings 21

At East Rutherford, N.J., the Jets stopped Robert Smith on a 2-point conversion run with no time left to beat Minnesota, which nearly overcame a 16-point deficit in the fourth quarter.

The Vikings, who trailed 23-7, pulled within two points when Brad Johnson threw a 1-yard TD pass to Andrew Glover as time expired.

Bears 13, Buccaneers 7

At Chicago, where the game-time temperature was 28 degrees, the Bears held Tampa Bay to 35 yards rushing and stopped the Buccaneers twice in the fourth quarter to preserve the victory.

In 22 years as an NFL franchise, Tampa Bay has not won a game in 17 tries when the temperature was 42 degrees or lower.

Eagles 23, Steelers 20

At Philadelphia, Bobby Hoying outplayed the more heralded Kordell Stewart in a meeting of first-year starting quarterbacks.

Making only his second pro start, Hoying completed 15 of 31 passes for 246 yards and two touchdowns as Philadelphia beat Pittsburgh.

49ers 17, Chargers 10

At San Francisco, the 49ers won a team-record 11th straight game by beating San Diego in their first meeting since the 1995 Super Bowl.

Panthers 16, Rams 10

At St. Louis, third-string defensive end Israel Raybon saved the game for Carolina by tipping a fourth-down pass headed to a wide-open Aaron Laing in the end zone with 1:13 left.

The Panthers’ Kerry Collins went 23-for-30 for 286 yards, and John Kasay added three field goals. The Rams have lost eight straight.

Bengals 31, Jaguars 26

At Cincinnati, Boomer Esiason threw for two touchdowns in his first start since returning to the Bengals.

Giants 7, Redskins 7 (OT)

After an ugly overtime in which host Washington had three turnovers and a costly unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Michael Westbrook, the Redskins picked up their first tie since overtime began in 1974. It was the Giants’ first tie since 1983.

There were 22 punts, 10 sacks and Washington quarterback Gus Frerotte put himself in the hospital by ramming his head into a wall.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: SUNDAY’S BEST Quarterbacks Dan Marino 38-60-389-0-3 Brad Johnson 24-35-312-3-0 Kordell Stewart 20-43-294-2-3 Todd Collins 25-40-286-2-1 Running backs Barry Sanders 24-216-2 Dorsey Levens 33-190-1 Raymont Harris 33-116-1 Receivers Jake Reed 8-150-2 Irving Fryar 7-116-1 Rob Moore 8-112-0