Chicago Bears great and Pro Football Hall of Famer Steve McMichael died Wednesday after a yearslong battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Walter Payton’s son, Jarrett Payton, announced his death Wednesday evening that the NFL later confirmed. McMichael had reportedly been transferred to hospice care earlier Wednesday after a hospital trip resulted in a stay in intensive care.
“With deep sorrow, I share that Steve McMichael passed at 5:28 PM after a brave fight with #ALS, surrounded by loved ones. I’m grateful to have been with him in his final moments. Please keep Steve and his family your prayers,” Payton wrote on social media.
Advertisement
McMichael, affectionally known as Mongo, is a five-time All-Pro who played 13 of his 15 NFL seasons for the Bears as a defensive tackle. He was a key member as a first-team All-Pro for the famed 1985 Bears defense that anchored the franchise’s only run to a Super Bowl championship.
Steve McMichael, seen here with the Bears during a 1991 game against the Vikings. (Jonathan Daniel /Allsport via Getty Images)
(Getty Images)
McMichael, 67, was diagnosed with ALS in 2021. Known as Lou Gehrig’s disease after the New York Yankees great who was diagnosed with it, ALS is a neurodegenerative disease that attacks nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.
It causes the loss of muscle control and eventually impacts the muscles needed to move, speak, eat and breathe, per the Mayo Clinic. It is a progressive disease with no known cure that ultimately proves fatal.
Advertisement
Per the Chicago Tribune, McMichael lost control of his arms and legs during the early onset of the disease. He eventually lost control of his speech and has been bedridden for years.
McMichael’s emotional Hall of Fame induction
McMichael was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and inducted remotely during the 2024 ceremony in Canton, Ohio. McMichael’s family and members of the 1985 Bears, including Mike Singletary and Richard Dent, surrounded him in his suburban Chicago home as his bronze Hall of Fame bust, featuring his signature flowing locks, was unveiled bedside.
McMichael’s impact on NFL, Chicago
McMichael is a beloved figure in Chicago whose outsized personality stood out from a 1985 Bears roster filled with giant personalities.
Advertisement
McMichael entered the NFL in 1980 as a New England Patriots third-round draft pick out of Texas. The Patriots cut him after a rookie year in which he appeared in six games and registered only five tackles, leaving him free to sign with the Bears.
The Bears were certainly pleased with how that turned out. McMichael played for the Bears from 1981-93 and was named All-Pro after each season from 1984-88 and again in 1991. He was an anchor for a Bears team that won six NFC Central titles in seven seasons from 1984-90. He finished his NFL career with 95 sacks, 847 tackles and 13 forced fumbles in 213 games.
Former Bears head coach Mike Ditka described McMichael as one of the toughest players he ever coached, per the Bears, and McMichael’s personality was a perfect match for a famously boastful team.
McMichael remained an active member of the Chicago community after his retirement from football in 1994. He owned a restaurant called Mongo McMichaels in the Chicago suburb of Romeoville. He was the head coach of an Indoor Football League team in Chicago and became the only person to be ejected from a Chicago Cubs game after singing during the seventh-inning stretch.
Advertisement
McMichael was a regular at Chicago fundraisers and events and a frequent collaborator with Chicago Police Department’s bagpiper group, the Emerald Society. Per the Tribune, these collaborations involved McMichael donning kilts for charitable pub crawls across the city to help raise money for first responders.
Tributes to McMichael
Tributes to McMichael began to surface shortly after the news of his death.
