Steve 'Mongo' McMichael's condition improving, family says

CHICAGO - The family of Steve "Mongo" McMichael said Sunday that the Chicago Bears Hall of Famer's condition is improving. 

McMichael was admitted to the ICU on Thursday for a urinary tract infection. 

Initially, McMichael was responding to the antibiotics. But, on Saturday his family said he had contracted MRSA and received a blood transfusion. 

On Sunday, McMichael's wife Mitsy said he is once again responding to the antibiotics and his condition is improving. 

"We hope to have him home on Tuesday with IV antibiotics. He’s one tough guy. He’s Mongo and his DNA is different!" Mitsy said in a statement. 

Earlier this month, McMichael was inducted into the Hall of Fame, achieving his dream after advocating for induction for more than two decades.

McMichael has been battling Lou Gehrig's disease, or ALS, since he was diagnosed in 2021.

"I promise you, this epitaph that I’m going to have on me now? This ain’t ever how I envisioned this was going to end," McMichael told the Tribune in April 2021.

The disease has taken away his ability to walk and talk, but he has found other ways to communicate. Misty is also his voice.

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’ all-time sacks list with 92 1/2. His final season was with Green Bay in 1994.

Whether he was terrorizing 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.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.