Steve McMichael, the Hall of Fame defensive tackle who was one of the beloved leaders and most colorful characters of the 1985 Chicago Bears, died Wednesday after a lengthy battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). He was 67.
McMichael had been hospitalized recently in the intensive care unit and was to be moved into hospice care soon, a source had confirmed to the Tribune earlier in the day.
McMichael revealed to the Tribune in April 2021 — a little more than three months after he was diagnosed — that he had ALS, often known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, the progressive nervous system disease that disrupts the brain’s ability to communicate with muscles.
“I promise you,” McMichael said, “this epitaph that I’m going to have on me now? This ain’t ever how I envisioned this was going to end.”
Unsurprisingly, the man affectionately nicknamed “Mongo” during his playing days still had his sense of humor through it all. “I thought I was ready for anything,” he said. “But, man, this will sneak up on you like a cheap-shotting Green Bay Packer.”
McMichael’s yearslong fight with ALS robbed him of the ability to move and speak and on multiple occasions contributed to health issues that required him to be hospitalized.
But he retained his mental faculties and was still alert in August 2023 when the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s seniors committee recommended him for induction.
“Finally,” his wife, Misty, told the Tribune at the time. “This is amazing. I don’t want to watch him die. I want to see him live to see this, to feel all that love. He deserves this. I want him to go happy.”
In February 2024, McMichael was officially elected to the Hall of Fame’s Class of 2024, announced during the NFL Honors event in Las Vegas. That tribute resonated deeply with McMichael’s family and former teammates.
“It’s the most amazing feeling in the whole world to know that he’s in and to know he’s being recognized,” his sister Kathy McMichael said. “And that he deserves it. … We waited for this for a very long time. And it’s just amazing that he gets to be a part of this. That’s all we wanted was for him to know that he was going to be in the Hall of Fame and live there for eternity.”
McMichael’s formal enshrinement in the Hall of Fame took place Aug. 3, 2024, in Canton, Ohio.
Gary Fencik, a Bears teammate of McMichael’s for seven years, including the 1985 Super Bowl XX championship season, said it was a fitting honor for a player who was an ideal fit for the 1980s Bears.
“We all always think of how loud and vocal he would be as a character off the field,” Fencik told the Tribune in February 2024. “But on the field, Steve was a guy who took immense pride in just doing his job. Never complained. Never needed the outside recognition. He just relished in being such a strong complement to the rest of our defensive players. He was just very reliable. Always a very reliable teammate.”
McMichael played in 191 consecutive regular-season games for the Bears and 12 more in the playoffs. No offensive or defensive player has appeared in more games for the franchise in its 105 NFL seasons.
“More than 200 games in a row,” said Dan Hampton, McMichael’s longtime teammate, close friend and fellow Hall of Famer. “To withstand the rigors and the pounding for all those years. And it’s not like he was playing cornerback. He wasn’t a receiver. He was a defensive tackle taking on double teams and triple teams and leg whips and this and that. To then essentially defy the physical reality of it is mind-boggling.”
In 2019, before the Bears played their 100th season, the Tribune ranked the top 100 players in franchise history. McMichael came in at No. 18.
He was named a first-team All-Pro in 1985 and ’87, to the second team in 1986, ’88 and ’91 and to the Pro Bowl in 1986 and ’87.
At 6-foot-2, 270 pounds, McMichael was smaller than the average tackle, but he thrived in defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan’s system because of his strength and quickness. McMichael was able to stuff the run and was one of the best interior pass rushers in NFL history.
McMichael recorded 10 sacks or more in 1984, ’88 and ’92. His 92½ sacks for the Bears are second to Richard Dent (124½), his former teammate who had the honor of informing McMichael of his selection to the Hall of Fame.
In 1993, McMichael broke Walter Payton’s team record of regular-season games played. He still ranks second in franchise history in that department, tied with Olin Kreutz and behind only long snapper Patrick Mannelly’s 245 games.
McMichael played his last season for the Packers in 1994, starting all 16 games after the Bears released him rather than pay his $1 million salary.
He joined World Championship Wrestling as a broadcaster in 1995 and became a wrestler a few months later. In 2001, McMichael was ejected from Wrigley Field after criticizing umpire Angel Hernandez over the public address system before singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.”
In 2013, he ran for mayor of Romeoville and earned 39% of the vote in a loss to incumbent John Noak.
On Sept, 18, 2021, McMichael received the first ALS Courage Award at Soldier Field. He and Misty wore matching black shirts emblazoned with “Me Mongo” and “Mrs. Mongo.”
Photos: ALS Walk for Life honors Chicago Bears legend Steve ‘Mongo’ McMichael
“I never thought that I could admire the man more than I already did,” McMichael’s former teammate Keith Van Horne said while presenting the honor. “But watching him, how he carries himself dealing with this toughest opponent that he’s ever had to face, he’s done it with grace and humor.”
More than two dozen former NFL players have come forward with their ALS diagnoses, a group that includes Steve Gleason, O.J. Brigance, Tim Shaw and the late Dwight Clark, Kevin Turner, Wally Hilgenberg and Orlando Thomas. Former Raiders running back Steve Smith, who died in 2021 at age 57, had the disease since 2002. His wife, Chie, became one of Misty’s most trusted resources and confidantes.
Upon his initial diagnosis, McMichael reflected on whether, considering his later-life plight, he would choose to play football as hard and for as long as he did.
“Hell, yes, I would do it all over again,” McMichael said. “Because it’s that journey that’s the reward. It’s that climb and how hard it was to substantiate yourself as out of the ordinary. That kind of achievement isn’t just given to you.”
