Gone but never forgotten.
Chicago Bears icon and Pro Football Hall of Famer Steve McMichael died on Wednesday evening after a courageous yearslong battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)/ Lou Gehrig’s Disease.
McMichael, affectionally known as Mongo, was a five-time All-Pro who played 13 of his 15 NFL seasons for the ‘Monsters of the Midway’, Bears as a defensive tackle. He was a key cog as a first-team All-Pro for the legendary 1985 Bears defense that led the flagship franchise’s only run to a Super Bowl championship.
McMichael, 67-years-of-age, was diagnosed with the dreaded disease, 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 used and needed to move, speak, eat and breathe independently, according to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. It is a relentless and progressive disease with no known cure that ultimately proves fatal.
According to the Chicago Tribune, McMichael lost control of his arms and legs during the early stages of the disease. He eventually lost control of his speech and has been confined to a bed for years.
McMichael was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which was long overdue, 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 at his bedside.
Embed from Getty ImagesMcMichael is a beloved staple in the ‘Windy City’, whose larger-than-life personality stood out from a 1985 Bears roster filled with giant personalities.
McMichael entered the NFL in 1980 as a New England Patriots third-round draft pick out of Texas. The Patriots released him after a rookie year in which he took the field in six games and registered only five tackles, leaving him free to sign with the Bears, and the rest, as they say, is history.
The Bears were ecstatic 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 coach Mike Ditka described McMichael as one of the toughest players he ever coached, according to 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 he walked away from the game 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.
McMichael was a regular at Chicago fundraisers and events and a frequent partner and collaborator with Chicago Police Department’s bagpiper group, the Emerald Society. According to the Tribune, these collaborations involved McMichael wearing Scottish kilts for charitable pub crawls across the city to help raise money for first responders.
