Chicago Bears’ legend Steve McMichael’s dream nearly complete

For 25 years Steve McMichael has waited for the call. Ever since he became eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2000, he has dreamed of the day he would be granted entry into the elite group reserved for the best football players to ever play in the NFL. But each year that dream was put on hold. It was put on hold even after McMichael became eligible for senior candidacy in 2020, which happens after not being elected after 20 years of modern-era eligibility.

This Saturday, McMichael’s dream of being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame will be fulfilled. He is one of a seven-member class to be inducted, which includes former Chicago Bears players Devin Hester and Julius Peppers. McMichael’s wife, Misty, received the call in August 2023 informing her that Steve had been named as one of three senior candidate finalists. Then, this past February, McMichael’s former teammate Richard Dent called to give Steve and Misty the news that Steve had been elected to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

McMichael, who was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) in January 2021, will not be able to travel to Canton, Ohio for his enshrinement due to his condition. However, that won’t stop this special day for him. In fact, Hall of Fame president Jim Porter will personally go to McMichael’s home in Homer Glen, Illinois to present him with his bronze bust and gold jacket. Joining Porter will be Misty McMichael and their daughter, Macy, along with former teammates Richard Dent and Jim Covert.

The fact that it took 25 years for McMichael, now 66-years-old, to get the Hall of Fame nod is one of football’s great mysteries. This is a guy who ranks second in Bears franchise history in sacks (92.5). Only Hall of Famer Richard Dent had more. McMichael also ranks fourth in NFL history in career sacks by a defensive tackle (95). He had seven seasons in which he recorded eight or more sacks and he led the Bears’ defense in two of those seasons.

A two-time Pro Bowler, McMichael played in 191 consecutive games over 13 seasons for the Bears, which is a franchise record to this day. The pinnacle of his time with Chicago was the 1985 season that ended in a Super Bowl win after routing the Patriots 46-10. The 1985 Bears defense is widely regarded as the best defense in NFL history, and whenever McMichael wasn’t collecting sacks, he was keeping blockers off the Bears’ feared linebackers so they could terrorize quarterbacks.

Originally drafted by the New England Patriots in the third round of the 1980 NFL Draft, McMichael only spent two of his 15 seasons away from the Bears - his rookie year (1980) with the Patriots and his final year (1994) with the Green Bay Packers. It’s ironic that he spent his last year with the Bears’ most bitter rival, but McMichael put a positive spin on it in a 2019 interview with Dan Wiederer of the Chicago Tribune. “For 13 years, I helped the Bears beat the Packers every year,” he says. “I whupped their ass, right? So the last year, I went up there on my last leg and I wasn’t any good anymore. So I stole their money and whipped their ass again!”

That is classic Steve McMichael. Loud, boisterous, and genuinely a kid at heart. I got a small sample of this in 2015 when I was bartending at a sports bar in the Chicago suburbs. McMichael, who was playing that night in the revived Chicago 6 band with Otis Wilson and Dan Hampton, walked in and caught me completely off guard. The guy was huge! Without hesitation, he told me, “Put all the tequila you have out on the bar so I can see.” After rummaging through the tequila inventory and putting each brand on the bar, he chose patron silver, the entire time with a huge grin on his face as if he knew something I didn’t.

If McMichael has had any bitterness over the years about getting repeatedly stonewalled from entry into the Hall of Fame, he hasn’t shown it publicly. He has maintained his happy-go-lucky, kid at heart nature regardless of the committee’s decision each year regarding football’s highest honor. Now the waiting and the patience has paid off.

Presenting McMicael into the Hall of Fame is Jarrett Payton, the son of Hall of Fame Chicago Bears running back Walter Payton. Jarrett also introduced his father into the Hall of Fame in 1993 when he was just 12-years-old. This makes the day even more special since Jarrett and McMichael have gotten closer ever since Jarrett lost his father, Walter, to bile duct cancer in 1999. This is where the ‘Bears family’ aspect has been truly remarkable.

It hasn’t just been Jarrett that’s gotten closer with McMichael either. Former teammates such as Mike Singletary, Jim McMahon, Dan Hampton, Jim Osborne, and Tom Thayer have consistently visited their beloved friend since his diagnosis. It’s part of the brotherhood that has grown deeper as McMichael’s condition has declined. ALS is a ravaging, unforgiving disease that has withered McMichael’s physical appearance and stolen his ability to move on his own or speak. But his brothers still see him as “Mongo,” the nickname they gave him based on a Blazing Saddles character for his wild and savage nature on the field, and sometimes off it.

The Hall of Fame weekend starts tonight in Canton, Ohio with the annual Hall of Fame Game. This opening preseason matchup will feature the Houston Texans taking on the Chicago Bears. On Saturday, the Hall of Fame Enshrinement will begin at noon at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton. However, the broadcast will switch to Homer Glen, Illinois for McMichael’s gold jacket presentation along with his bronze bust.

When doctors had given McMichael two-to-five years to live after his diagnosis in 2021, Misty feared that her husband wouldn’t be around to see the day of his enshrinement into the Hall of Fame should it ever come. After all, his diagnosis came two years before he was even selected as a finalist.

Even with complications over the last year ranging from infection to sepsis and pneumonia, McMichael wasn’t going to let that stop him from taking part in what he’d waited so long for. He even agreed to have Misty rip up his DNR (do not resuscitate) upon learning he was a finalist for induction last year. Now Mongo is in the home stretch, and in just two days, he’ll get his gold jacket, surrounded by his family and his brothers. The dream will be complete.