The 20 Biggest Baddest Bears of All Time Series, #20 Steve McMichael

No. 20 Steve McMichael

http://cdn.bleacherreport.net/images...jpg?1345674791
Steve McMichael
Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images


Steve “Mongo” McMichael was one of the best pass-rushing defensive tackles of all time. That is probably the most overlooked aspect of McMichael’s career. He finished with the third-most sacks of all time behind Hall of Famer John Randle and soon-to-be Hall of Fame player Warren Sapp.


McMichael combined with Dan Hampton and Richard Dent, two Hall of Famers, to form one of the best defensive lines from the decade of the ’80s. He was an intimidating force because he was so quick and strong and was most often overshadowed by Hampton and Dent.


Known as an even wilder player off the field, McMichael played acutely focused on destroying the offense.

"Mongo" has always been one of my all time favorite Bears players but as the article points out he's often forgotten on a team where he played with HOF'ers like Hampton, Dent and Singletary.

To me McMichael is just as deserving of HOF honors as the others who have made it from that great '85 Bears team but chances are he won't even be nominated let alone elected and to me that's a great a shame as the length of time it took Dent to make it.

Few realize what a great pass rusher Steve McMichael was so it's nice this article points out that only two other DTs in the history of the game have more sacks and both are HOF or soon to be HOF players. It was a rare year when "Mongo" did record double digit sacks or nearly double digit sacks as a DT.

Who was the dim bulb with the Pats who cut him ?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Blue Horse-shoe

Who was the dim bulb with the Pats who cut him ?

---

Yeah I often wondered that myself. That's almost on par with the Cubbies trading Lou Brock as far as dumb personnel decisions go.

My favorite "Mongo" story is about the first day he arrived at the Bears training camp and at that time he was only about 250lbs not the 270-280lbs he played at later in his career. Anyway one of the Bears huge 290lb OGs walked up to him before practice trying to intimidate him and said to him, "I'm gonna hurt you out there today rookie".

So McMichael just picked up his own helmet and started bashing himself in the forehead with it until he'd beaten his forehead to a pulp and there was blood running all down his face. He just looked at the OG and said, "How you figure you're gonna do that?" :36_1_42[1]::bah:

There are also some really wild and funny stories about some of the rattle snake hunting trips to Texas he used to take teammates on.

I hope Mongo gets some HOF traction soon.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by short faced bear

I hope Mongo gets some HOF traction soon.

---

I hope so too but I don't see it happening. Look how long it took for Dent to be elected and he as a much higher profile player. "Mongo" was kind of the unsung hero of that bunch. In his prime there wasn't a better pass rushing DT in the NFL than him.

Actually Paea reminds me somewhat of McMichael. Very strong with an incredibly quick first step. "Mongo" was a prototypical 3t UT although they really didn't call it that in those days. When Ryan started playing "Fridge" and moved Hampton back to LDE that was a DLine that struck terror into opponents.

To me the only DLine is history that could match that one was the old Steelers "Steel Curtain".

Platteville AHHHH, to be young again. Youth is wasted on the young.

Some of probably remember the Monday game years ago against the Jets at Soldier Field when Cap Boso caught the pass in OT at the 1 yardline & got up with a face full of turf stuck in his helmet. A true classic game. Well that only happened because McMichael caused a fumble with less that 2 minutes left in regulation with us out of time outs, down 13-6 & all the Jets had to do was run out the clock. Harbaugh threw a TD to Neal Anderson (I think) to tie it with time running out. I think it was on 4th down.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BearJim

Some of probably remember the Monday game years ago against the Jets at Soldier Field when Cap Boso caught the pass in OT at the 1 yardline & got up with a face full of turf stuck in his helmet. A true classic game. Well that only happened because McMichael caused a fumble with less that 2 minutes left in regulation with us out of time outs, down 13-6 & all the Jets had to do was run out the clock. Harbaugh threw a TD to Neal Anderson (I think) to tie it with time running out. I think it was on 4th down.

---

I do remember that game. McMichael shot the gap and nailed the ball carrier and tore it away. The guys in the booth were shocked.

I remember Steve McMichael from when he was a wrestler in WCW. I was in middle school at that time, so when I heard that he played on the 1985 Chicago Bears, I thought, "Damn! This guy is some kind of critter!"