Steve McMichael was a pillar on the greatest defense in NFL history

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Mike Mulligan and David Haugh were joined by Dan Pompei of The Athletic to discus Bears legend Steve "Mongo" McMichael being set to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this weekend.

Transcript

00:00Like, he caught Ditka's eye because he was kind of like Ditka, emotional big-guy character.

00:07And obviously, Buddy Ryan is there, and you look at what happened with that team, it's

00:13just, you know, I mean, that could have been a dynasty, but they did win one, so that's

00:19wonderful.

00:20Yeah, I mean, greatest defense that I've ever seen, I think probably any of us have ever

00:25seen, and I can't imagine there ever being a defense close to that again.

00:32You know, in addition to having, I mean, it's the only defense in history now with three

00:39Hall of Famers on the defensive line, and then, of course, you've got another one behind

00:43them in Mike Singletary, and, you know, just players who were all pro-level caliber players

00:52at every point of the defense.

00:55And in addition to that, they had a cutting-edge scheme that nobody knew how to block, and

01:00they had an attitude that was just, you know, it gave them life and gave them this incredible

01:09ability to intimidate.

01:13And then the rules were different then, too, you know?

01:16You could make a quarterback cry, you know, as Mike Singletary said recently.

01:23But, you know, they took advantage of all of it.

01:25It was amazing.

01:26It was an amazing time, and Steve McMichael was such an important part of all of it, you

01:31know, the defense would not have been what it was without him, both in terms of what

01:36he did to make plays, you know, it was the best-run defense in the league over a 10-year

01:43period statistically.

01:44He led the defensive line in tackles seven of those years.

01:48He had ended up with the fourth most sacks among defensive tackles in history.

01:53And then in addition to all that, he also was the guy who always was where he was supposed

01:59to be, allowing other players to make plays, taking on double teams, keeping the blockers

02:06off the linebackers so they could make their tackles.

02:09It can't be understated how important, how vital he was to everything that the Bears

02:15of the 80s did.

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