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CHICAGO – DECEMBER 30: Steve McMichael #76 of the Chicago Bears removes his helmet during the game against the Kansas City Chiefs on December 30, 1990 in Chicago, Illinois. The Chiefs won 21-10. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Steve McMichael, a Hall of Fame defensive tackle who spent most of his career playing for the Chicago Bears<\/a>, passed away last year at the age of 67, and now, one year later, he has been diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy.<\/p>\n The news was announced by the Concussion & CTE Foundation, with his wife, Misty McMichael, sharing a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cToo many NFL<\/a> players are developing ALS during life and diagnosed with CTE after death,\u201d Misty said. \u201cI donated Steve\u2019s brain to inspire new research into the link between them.\u201d<\/p>\n There are four stages of CTE, and McMichael was found to have stage three.<\/p>\n McMichael passed away after a five-year battle with ALS, which is also known as Lou Gehrig\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n What Is CTE?<\/p>\n Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which is also known as CTE, is a brain diseased that is often caused by repeated head injuries.<\/p>\n According to the Mayo Clinic<\/a>, CTE gets worse over time, but the only way to diagnose it is after death. The symptoms can include mood swings, impulsive behavior and depression.<\/p>\n There have also been studies finding a link between CTE and ALS. <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThere is strong evidence linking repetitive brain trauma and ALS,\u201d director of the Boston University CTE Center Dr. Ann McKee said. \u201cIn our CTE brain bank, about six percent of individuals with CTE also have ALS.\u201d<\/p>\n Specifically, A 2021 study<\/a> found NFL players are over four times more likely to develop ALS than the general male population. And that was why Steve\u2019s wife, Misty, wanted to speak out about these findings.<\/p>\n \u201cBy sharing Steve\u2019s diagnosis, we want to raise awareness of the clear connection between CTE and ALS,\u201d she added in the statement. \u201cToo many NFL players are developing ALS during life and diagnosed with CTE after death.\u201d<\/p>\n Steve McMichael\u2019s Legacy<\/p>\n McMichael attended and played college ball at Texas from 1975 to 1980. He was then selected in the third round of the 1980 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots<\/a>. But he was quickly cut ahead of his second season.<\/p>\n From there, the Chicago Bears wasted no time swooping in, signing the defensive tackle. He went on to win a Super Bowl with the team in 1985, becoming one of the key starters. He remained in Chicago from 1981 to 1993, finishing his career with the Green Bay Packers<\/a> in 1994. Across his career, he was a two-time first-team All-Pro, a two-time second-team All-Pro, and a two-time Pro Bowler. He is also known as one of the Top 100 Greatest Bears All-Time and is on the Bears All-Time Team.<\/p>\n In 2023, McMichael was named a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2024 and was officially selected that year. He was formally inducted on August 3, 2024, with his sister delivering a heartfelt speech on his behalf.<\/p>\n Along with his football career, McMichael also pursued wrestling.<\/p>\n In 2021, he officially announced that he had been diagnosed with ALS in a conversation with the Chicago Tribune<\/a> in which he revealed he is no longer able to \u201craise his arms or hold anything in his hands.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI promise you,\u201d McMichael told the Tribune, \u201cthis epitaph that I\u2019m going to have on me now? This ain\u2019t ever how I envisioned this was going to end.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tSophie Weller<\/a> Sophie Weller is a sports reporter covering the NFL for Heavy.com. She also works for Patriots Wire, and previously spent time with A to Z Sports and MassLive. She is based out of Boston, Massachusetts, and loves all things football! More about Sophie Weller<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Bears\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty CHICAGO – DECEMBER 30: Steve McMichael #76 of the Chicago Bears removes his helmet during the game…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":859453,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2070],"tags":[374,692,391,2493,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-859452","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-bears","8":"tag-bears","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-chicago-bears","11":"tag-chicagobears","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116364742743218546","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=859452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/859453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=859452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=859452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=859452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}