Ex-Bears star Steve McMichael improving, hopes to leave hospital in coming days

Former Bears defensive lineman Steve McMichael has responded well to the three antibiotics given him to combat a urinary tract infection, his longtime publicist Betsy Shepherd said in a statement Friday. He is set to undergo a procedure to clear fluid from his lungs, too, and is expected to leave the hospital in the coming days.

McMichael was rushed to a New Lenox emergency room Thursday — exactly one week after he was formally introduced as part of the 2024 Pro Football Hall of Fame class — with what his wife Misty first feared was pneumonia. The family asked for prayers.

McMichael, 66, has ALS. He can’t talk or move on his own.

Misty McMichael hopes her husband — who ranks second in Bears history in sacks and third in tackles — will be able to attend his own enshrinement in Canton, Ohio, in August. She said he’s begun to compose a speech using technology that allows him to write by using his own eye movement.