Steve Mcmichael: 2 crucial takeaways from the posthumous CTE diagnosis
Steve McMichael is now at the center of a diagnosis that his family says he wanted made public after death: posthumous CTE. The announcement arrives nearly a year after his death on April 23, 2025, following a nearly five-year battle with ALS. Beyond the personal loss, the news sharpens a larger question about what repeated head impacts can leave behind, and why families are increasingly pushing for brain research to answer it.
Why the Steve McMichael diagnosis matters now
The timing of the disclosure matters because it turns a football legacy into a medical warning. McMichael’s widow, Misty, said the family hoped sharing the diagnosis would raise awareness about the long-term effects of repetitive head impacts and the urgent need to advance research. The family also said McMichael wanted his brain studied after his death, making the announcement part of a deliberate effort to expand understanding rather than simply close a chapter.
Researchers at Boston University’s Concussion and CTE Foundation announced that McMichael had stage three of four for chronic traumatic encephalopathy. That detail is significant not because it changes what happened in life, but because it adds a precise diagnosis to the public record after his death. In a sport where many injuries are visible on game day, CTE remains a disease defined by what accumulates over years.
Steve McMichael and the football record that framed his legacy
Before the diagnosis, Steve McMichael had already become one of the most recognized figures in Chicago sports history. Drafted by the New England Patriots in the third round, No. 73 overall, in the 1980 NFL Draft, he was released after six regular-season games and later joined the Bears in 1981. From there, he became a key part of what is widely regarded as one of the best defenses in NFL history.
McMichael played a franchise-record 191 games for Chicago and became a starter at defensive tackle in 1983. In 1985, the first of three straight All-Pro seasons at the position, he helped lead the Bears to their only Super Bowl title to date, starting at left defensive tackle and recording a sack against the Patriots in Super Bowl XX. He finished with 92. 5 sacks for the Bears, second only to Richard Dent in team history, along with two first-team All-Pro selections and two Pro Bowl appearances.
What the CTE finding adds to the ALS conversation
The most consequential part of the diagnosis is not only that Steve McMichael had CTE, but that his family and medical experts are linking it to a broader conversation about ALS. Misty McMichael said the family wanted the announcement to raise awareness of the clear connection between CTE and ALS, while also noting that Steve McMichael’s brain was donated to inspire new research into the link between them.
Dr. Ann McKee, director of the Boston University CTE Center and chief of neuropathology for the VA Boston Healthcare System, said McMichael had severe CTE as well as ALS with TDP-43 inclusions typical for ALS in his brainstem and spinal cord. She added that there is strong evidence linking repetitive brain trauma and ALS, and said that in the CTE brain bank, about 6% of individuals with CTE also have ALS. That figure does not prove cause in any single case, but it underscores why this diagnosis is drawing attention beyond one athlete’s biography.
Experts and the broader ripple effect
The broader implication is that Steve McMichael’s case may strengthen the pressure on researchers and medical institutions to keep examining the overlap between repetitive trauma, CTE, and ALS. His story also shows how posthumous diagnoses can become part of public health education, especially when families choose disclosure as a form of advocacy.
McMichael’s path after football also helped keep him in the public eye. He appeared briefly with the WWF before wrestling and commentating for World Championship Wrestling for five years. Later, in 2021, he revealed he was battling ALS, and three years after that, he was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame following years of support from family and friends. The diagnosis now layers medical meaning onto a career already marked by fame, resilience, and late recognition.
As more families push for brain donation and posthumous study, Steve McMichael’s case raises a harder question: how many more diagnoses like this will it take before the football world fully confronts the cost of repetitive head impacts?
