In 2015 — as Buddy Ryan’s time on earth was coming to an end — he wrote a letter to his guys. The letter started by saying how much he would have liked to tell the 1985 Chicago Bears Defense — the best ever in the NFL in his estimation — how much they meant to him.
Among those guys was defensive tackle Steve McMichael.
Steve McMichael was never a Philadelphia Eagle. He never dawned a winged helmet and dominated at Veterans Stadium on Sunday afternoons. What he did do — was to provide a blueprint for how Buddy Ryan would construct his Philadelphia defense. What he did do as a member of that 1985 Chicago Bears 46 Defense was to stand as a shining example of what Buddy wanted in a defensive lineman.
Tough, physical, dominant. Relentless.
Mongo’s eleven year NFL career set an example for exactly the type of defense that Buddy Ryan wanted. When he arrived in Philadelphia — he didn’t promise to make the Eagles better — he promised to make them champions. The draft selections that he made along that defensive line weren’t just promising — they were punishing.
That Eagles defense — complete with Jerome Brown, Clyde Simmons, and Reggie White among others, wreaked havoc on offensive lines. When Green Bay #1 selection offensive lineman Tony Mandarich visited Philadelphia in 1991 — Reggie White simply reached out and pushed him aside like a paperweight.
Steve McMichael would end his Hall of Fame NFL career as a two-time first-team All-Pro. He had nearly 850 tackles and 95 sacks as a professional. He would also set a Bears record for consecutive starts with 191.
When the world lost McMichael last month prior to the draft — it lost not only a member of one of the most dominant defenses in NFL history — it lost one of it’s most dominant defensive lineman. It not only lost Mongo — it lost the mold that Buddy Ryan looked for in all Eagles defensive lineman during the Buddy Ryan Era for nearly five years.
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