Personification of toughness on, off field — Steve McMichael: 1957-2025

(Opens in a new window)STEVE McMICHAEL,(Opens in a new window) enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame less than eight months ago, died Wednesday, April 23, 2025, with friends and family at his side. He had entered hospice care earlier in the day.

He was 67. 

McMichael had waged a public battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, an incurable affliction commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. He spent his last four-plus years of life at his home in suburban Chicago, eventually unable to move and, ultimately, unable to speak.

Instead, McMichael’s renown toughness spoke for him, said Jim Porter, president & CEO of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“Steve McMichael told everyone he would fight ALS with the same tenacity he showed for 15 seasons in the National Football League. And he did just that,” Porter said. “Everyone who played with or against Steve shares the same opinion: No one battled longer or harder from the snap until the whistle than Steve the player.

“That legendary will to fight allowed him to experience his enshrinement as a member of the Hall’s Class of 2024. And the love his teammates showed him throughout this difficult journey says everything about Steve the man.” 

On the chance he might someday get elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, McMichael late in his life worked with his sister Kathy to compose a short statement. She read it Aug. 3 to a film crew at Steve’s house marking his enshrinement.

“Hey, Chicago Bears fans and Mongo fans: Woo, hoo. I'm in the Hall of Fame, baby! I want to thank the Hall of Fame, the Senior Selection Committee, the Chicago Bears and all the fans – the best fans in the world and the best city to play football in,” she read. 

“I played 15 years in the NFL and loved every minute of every down. I played with the greatest players in the NFL and the greatest defense to this day, baby. I want to thank all my teammates.”

McMichael played 13 years with the Bears sandwiched between a rookie season in New England and a final season in Green Bay. In Chicago, his accomplishments included a team-record streak of 191 consecutive regular-season games played, plus 12 more in the playoffs. He played a key role in the dominant 1985 defense, regarded by many as the best in NFL history, and with that team won Super Bowl XX.

He finished his career as the Bears’ all-time leader among interior linemen in tackles (814) and sacks (92.5) despite often being called on to occupy opposing offensive linemen so the team’s linebackers or edge rushers could accumulate those stats.

McMichael twice led the Bears in sacks (11.5 in 1988 and 10.5 in 1992) and forced 13 fumbles in his career. He was a three-time All-Pro and was invited to the Pro Bowl twice.

Steve McMichael was born Texas-tough

Stephen Douglas McMichael was born Oct. 17, 1957, in Houston. He grew up in Freer, a small town not far from the border with Mexico.

At Freer High School, he lettered in six sports: football, basketball, baseball, track, tennis and golf. He batted .450 in his senior year, attracting attention from pro scouts, and signed a minor-league contract with the St. Louis Cardinals.

But it was on the football field where McMichael made his biggest impression.

“He was a terror in the making. You could see it coming,” said Tommy Roberts, McMichael’s high school football coach.

McMichael received 75 college scholarship offers, ultimately staying close to home – at the University of Texas. While in Austin, he twice was named All-Southwest Conference. As a senior, he was a consensus first-team All-American, team MVP and defensive MVP at the 1979 Hula Bowl.

“He was one of the most intense football players on our squad,” then-Texas head coach Fred Akers said. “He loves everything about football. He’s not happy unless he’s practicing or playing.”

Twenty years after graduating as UT’s career leader in tackles and sacks, McMichael was inducted into the Longhorn Hall of Honor. In 2010, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Steve McMichael went from misfit to perfect fit

The New England Patriots drafted McMichael for that intensity, taking him in the third round with the 73rd overall pick of the 1980 NFL Draft. He played only six regular-season games, however, and the Patriots released him before the start of the 1981 season.

In Chicago, he found a system and a locker room that fit his style.

“Steve transcended every era. He could have played in the ’40s, ’50s, ’60s, ’70s,” MIKE DITKA(Opens in a new window) said in an interview while reflecting on McMichael’s career. “What he had, he gave to me. All of it. There was never a down where he didn’t go all out.”

In addition to his game day motor on Sundays, McMichael impressed teammates with his work ethic every other day.

“Steve was the best football player I ever played with,” former teammate Trace Armstrong told the Chicago Tribune. “He didn’t have dominant ability, yet he was a dominant player for a long time. He did it by working at it. I played with Steve for five years, and he never missed a practice.”

Those practices weren’t half-speed, either.

“Practicing against Steve made everybody better on both sides of the ball,” Hall of Fame offensive tackle JIMBO COVERT(Opens in a new window) said at the 2019 “Gridiron Greats” induction ceremony. “When you practiced against Steve, you’d better bring your lunchbox – and a lunchbox for the guy next to you and one for the guy next to him, because (Steve was) going to bring it all day long.”

Gary Fencik, a safety for the Bears from 1976 to 1987 saw how McMichael’s arrival – on the field and in the locker room – helped transform a struggling team into a championship team.

“Steve was a guy who took immense pride in just doing his job. Never complained. Never needed the outside recognition,” Fencik said in an interview with the Chicago Tribune. “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.”

From 1982 until 1991, the Bears allowed the fewest points, rushing yards and total yards in the NFL, while recording the most sacks. McMichael played a role in the Bears winning six division championships. In his lone Super Bowl, McMichael started at left defensive tackle and recorded a sack.

“My whole existence was about walking out that tunnel and hearing the roar of the crowd,” McMichael said in an interview used in a “30 for 30” retrospective on the 1985 Bears. “That’s what you miss: Mattering to that throng. That’s when you’re really alive, baby. And do you ever get back to that point once it’s gone? I haven’t.”

Steve McMichael's life after football

It wasn’t 70,000 rabid fans in a football stadium, but McMichael briefly found outlets to help quench his thirst for the crowd’s roar with a second athletic career in professional wrestling and other public-facing activities.

He performed in the ring, most notably as a member of The Four Horsemen, and as a commentator for WWE (WWF at that time) and WCW from 1995-99. At one time he held the WCW’s U.S. heavyweight championship belt.

McMichael also co-hosted a Bears pregame show and did other radio and television work. He was the head coach of the Chicago Slaughter of the Indoor Football League from 2007 until the team’s final season in 2013.

DAN HAMPTON,(Opens in a new window) Otis Wilson and McMichael performed in a rock ‘n’ roll oldies band called the Chicago 6 until McMichael’s health prevented him from playing.

He made his ALS diagnosis public in April 2021.

“I’m glad in my life I never held back anything. I went at it full bore and did a lot of things in my life,” McMichael told WGN that day.

Five months later, McMichael returned to Soldier Field to accept the first ALS Courage Award from the Les Turner ALS Foundation.

“I never thought that I could admire the man more than I already did,” former teammate Keith Van Horne said during the presentation. “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.”

When McMichael and his family — he is survived by his wife, Misty, and their daughter, Macy — learned of his election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, he already had far exceeded doctors’ expectations for his survival.

“Two years ago, his doctor told us, ‘He probably won’t live but maybe six more months,’” Kathy McMichael told a reporter this past spring. “And I said, ‘You don’t know him. His DNA is different. Get ready! He’s not going anywhere anytime soon.’ ”

Before losing his ability to verbalize his thoughts, McMichael said he wanted fans to remember him for accomplishments on the field, not his final battle off it. Chris Berman, in his role as host of the Enshrinement of the Class of 2024 in Canton, articulated the words.

“I don’t want ALS to be my legacy,” Berman read. “What I did on the field, that is my legacy. Pushing myself to the limit farther than anyone could.”

That legacy will be preserved forever in Canton, Ohio.