CHICAGO — With his massive frame and larger-than-life persona, Steve McMichael was a natural fit for both the gridiron and the squared circle.
The man known as “Mongo” and “Ming The Merciless” left a trail of battered and beaten opponents during an NFL career that led to a place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Then he did the same as a professional wrestler.
McMichael, a star defensive tackle for the famed 1985 Chicago Bears — known as one of the most dominant Super Bowl championship teams — and a figure who remained a fixture in the Windy City for decades, died Wednesday after a battle with ALS. He was 67.
McMichael died at Lightways Hospice in suburban Joliet, his publicist, Betsy Shepherd, told The Associated Press.
An All-Pro first-team selection in 1985 and 1987, McMichael was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2024. He played in a franchise-record 191 consecutive games for Chicago from 1981 to 1993 and ranks second to Richard Dent on the Bears’ career sacks list with 92 1/2. His final NFL season, 1994, was spent with the Green Bay Packers, one of Chicago’s rivals.