Bears great Steve McMichael returns home after hospitalization

CHICAGO — Bears great Steve McMichael is back home after spending more than a week in the hospital with several ailments, publicist Betsy Shepherd said Friday.

The 66-year-old McMichael, who went public with an ALS diagnosis three years ago, was admitted into intensive care at a suburban hospital Feb. 15 with a urinary tract infection. He was hospitalized one week after being voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

McMichael was also treated for pneumonia and MRSA — a staph infection that can be difficult to treat because it is resistant to certain antibiotics — during his stay, Shepherd said. He will have around-the-clock nursing care at home and receive IV antibiotics to treat his infections.

«The outpouring of love, support and prayers have helped Steve get through this latest battle,» Shepherd said in a statement. «All he wanted was to get home to [wife] Misty and [daughter] Macy where he feels most comfortable.»

McMichael, who controlled the interior of the line for the Bears’ famed «46 defense,» was an All-Pro during the 1985 Super Bowl championship season and in 1987. He played in a franchise-record 191 consecutive games from 1981 to 1993 and ranks second to Hall of Famer Richard Dent on the Bears’ career sacks list with 92½. His final season was with Green Bay in 1994.

Whether he was harassing opponents or discussing the Bears on sports talk radio, the man known as «Ming The Merciless» and «Mongo» after the character in «Blazing Saddles» who knocked out a horse, remained a prominent presence in Chicago long after his playing days ended. He also spent five years in professional wrestling in the late 1990s.