The Texas Longhorns have a rich history in the NFL, and on Thursday night, they added to that, with former Horns and Chicago Bears defensive tackle Steve McMichael being nominated to the 2024 NFL Hall of Fame class.
With the nomination, McMichael became the sixth Longhorn to be enshrined into the Hall of Fame, joining Tex Schramm, Tom Landry, Bobby Layne, Bobby Dillon and Earl Campbell.
Said the NFL in their announcement:
A long-haired roughneck out of Texas, “Mongo” became one of Chicago’s favorite adopted sons and the senior finalist has now become a Hall of Famer. A 1980 third-round pick of the Patriots, McMichael would become a force for the Bears and a standout on one of the NFL’s greatest and most revered teams: Chicago’s 1985 Super Bowl winner. McMichael was a two-time Pro Bowler and two-time All-Pro with his first Pro Bowl selection coming during the ’85 season. He was the embodiment of the Bears’ ferocious 46 defense that plundered foes en route to a Super Bowl XX championship. An interior defensive lineman with a phenomenal pass rush, he posted 95 sacks, 847 tackles and 13 forced fumbles across 15 seasons — 13 in Chicago and one apiece for New England and Green Bay, retiring after after the 1994 season. He had seven years with eight or more sacks — second all time among defensive tackles. In 2021, McMichael announced he’d been diagnosed with ALS, but he’s battled the disease since and has now been recognized for his gridiron glory all those autumns ago.
During his time at Texas, McMichael was named to the First-Team All-SWC team in both 1978 and 1979, earning a consensus All-American nod in 1979 as well.
McMichael would then go on to be picked in the third round of the 1980 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots, who cut him after just one season.
In 1981, the Bears signed McMichael to a free agent deal, and the rest was history, with the Freer (TX) native being named to two Pro Bowls, earning two First-Team All-Pro nods, three Second-team All-Pro nods, and earning his way into the No. 19 spot on the list of the 100 greatest Bears of All-Time.
McMichael was also a member of the iconic 1985 Bears team that had arguably the best defense of all time and won Super Bowl XX.
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