Steve McMichael’s family announces Bears legend hospitalized, undergoing tests

McMichael, a key piece of the vaunted 1985 Bears defense, was diagnosed with ALS in 2021 and battled through the disease to get the long-awaited call to the Hall of Fame. That came during Super Bowl weekend in Las Vegas, and his wife Misty attended the ceremony in his place. The next step in the process will be the induction ceremony in Canton in early August.

Appropriately, the Bears will also be playing in the Hall of Fame Game that weekend.

More on Steve ‘Mongo’ McMichael’s career

During the 1985 season, McMichael made his mark. He finished third on the Bears with 8.0 sacks that season, trailing Richard Dent’s 17.0 and Otis Wilson’s 10.5, while also adding 44 total tackles. Chicago went 15-1 that season to win the only Super Bowl in franchise history.

“When I think about Steve as a player, as a teammate, reliable,” Mike Singletary, who played alongside McMichael, said in a statement after his Hall of Fame selection. “Steve would be what you’d call a blue-collar guy. He was a team guy. As a player, he was the best. You could always depend on him to do his job and be where he was supposed to be. I really believe that’s one of the things that he prided himself on is being dependable and being a teammate.”

McMichael spent the majority of his career in Chicago, though, playing for the Bears from 1981-93. He earned two first-team All-Pro and three second-team All-Pro selections as he totaled 95 sacks over his career. His nickname “Mongo” came from the character portrayed by the late Alex Karras in “Blazing Saddles,” who knocked out a horse. It was appropriate, too, considering McMichael stood at 6-foot-2 and 270 pounds.

Before he became a Hall of Famer at the professional level, McMichael was a star defensive lineman at Texas. He put together a storied career with the Longhorns from 1976-79 to become a College Football Hall of Famer. He was a two-time All-Southwest Conference selection and a Consensus All-American before the New England Patriots drafted him in 1980.