Q&A with former Bears DL Steve McMichael, 1985 Super Bowl champ

Former Bears defensive lineman and 1985 Super Bowl champion Steve McMichael came to Lake In the Hills on Monday for an event to raise awareness for the Ovarian Cancer Symptom Awareness Organization. While he was there, McMichael spoke with Northwest Herald/Chicago Football intern Matthew Paras.

Paras: What made the 1985 Bears team so special?

McMichael: We had 11 guys out there at all times who wanted the team to make the play. They weren't about themselves. We had eight all-pro players on that team at one time or another. That defense was going to squash you. If our offense turned the ball over and they scored some cheap points, they might have gotten out of there alive. That's what they all felt.

That’s what’s gone from the NFL. Football is supposed to be about intimidation. That’s why you have pads on and we’re going to hit you if you try to do this. That’s defense. It’s not like that anymore and it’s a shame.

Paras: Do you feel current day defenses hold up to your era? They call the Seahawks the Legion of Boom.

McMichael: The Legion of Boom means they are putting guys out of the game. They didn't hurt nobody.

Doomsday defense from Dallas, there wouldn’t have been no guy named Captain Comeback (Roger Staubach). The Steel Curtain, Terry Bradshaw and that offense outscored everybody. I wish I would have had a quarterback who stayed healthy. We would have been the team of the ‘80s if he had stayed healthy.

But you know, he was a marksman. The way we hurt other teams' quarterbacks, he was a target. We told him, you better start going down because they’re trying to kill you because what we were doing to their quarterback. But he’d try to fight and just get blown up.

It was a legitimate case for dementia and disability. He’s losing his memory. Everybody saw how he got his [expletive] ripped out there.

It’s a catch-22 because, without being the defense we were, we would have won if McMahon had stayed healthy.

Paras: Do you feel the rule changes have made the game safer overall?

McMichael: Football is not safe. I don't know why they're trying to legislate safety into it. Play another sport. If you don't like what you're watching on TV, change the channel.

McMichael: If those little, brittle businessman stay healthy, they will win. If they start laying around hurt and saying "Oh, I'm not going to play" they're going to get their [expletive] beat.