Happy 67th Birthday, Mike Singletary

Photo: Chicago Bears’ linebacker Mike Singletary. Photo credit: David Madison, Getty Images.

Cover photo: A focused Mike Singletary in a game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Photo credit: Jonathan Daniel, AllSport, Getty Images.

An NFL legend celebrates a birthday on October 9 as Hall of Fame linebacker and Chicago Bear great Mike Singletary turns 67. 

Born in Houston, Texas, Singletary attended Evan E. Worthing High School and then Baylor University. At Worthing, Singletary played both linebacker and offensive guard and was All-State in his senior season. At Baylor, Singletary tallied 662 tackles, a school record. As a junior in 1978 in a season that he finished with a record 232 tackles, he tallied a record 35 tackles in a game against the University of Arkansas. He registered 188 tackles as a junior and 145 as a senior. Singletary was a 2-time consensus All-American and 2-time Southwest Conference Player of the Year, achieving both recognitions in his junior and senior seasons of 1979 and 1980. He also won the Davey O’Brien Memorial Trophy in 1979 and 1980. The trophy is now given to the best NCAA quarterback, but was originally given to the best football player in the Southwestern United States. The Bears won the Southwestern Conference in Singletary’s senior season. In his freshman, sophomore, and junior seasons combined, Singletary broke eight helmets, a testament to his tackling ability and physical style. 

In the 1981 NFL Draft, the Chicago Bears selected Singletary in the second round with the 38th overall pick. In 1980, the Bears finished with a 7-9 record, and in Singletary’s rookie season won six games. The 1981 team included a nucleus of talented young players that would become vital to the vaunted ‘85 Bears - defensive end Dan Hampton (24 years of age), Otis Wilson (24 years of age), Singletary (23) and 27-year-old Pro Bowl safety Gary Fencik. 

Singletary first made the Pro Bowl in 1983, and from 1984-89 was a 1st team All-Pro. He finished fifth in the NFL’s Defensive Player of Year voting in 1984, and won the award in 1985 and 1988. He was a 2nd team All-Pro selection in 1990 and 1st team again in 1991. In his final NFL season in 1992, Singletary, 34 years old, was a Pro Bowler. His 172 career starts are second in franchise history to Walter Payton’s 184. 

The wide-eyed and intense Singletary, always alert - “Hey baby! We’re gonna be here all day! I like this kinda party! I like this kinda party baby!” is one of his soundbites - tallied 1,488 total tackles in his career (885 solo). He was the unquestioned leader of Buddy Ryan’s innovative 46 defense. 

Ryan’s 1985 Bears defense is widely regarded as the best in NFL history, and if they are not No. 1 (the 2000 Ravens are another great one), they are not lower than No. 2. That ‘85 Bear defense held teams to 10 or fewer points 11 times, including consecutive shutouts in Weeks 11 and 12 (44-0 at the Dallas Cowboys, 36-0 vs. the Atlanta Falcons). The Falcon victory set the team’s record at 12-0, and they would finish the regular season with a 15-1 mark. In the postseason, the Bears shut out the New York Giants 21-0 and the Los Angeles Rams 24-0, with Singletary tallying 13 tackles and one sack in those two games combined. The team crushed the New England Patriots 46-10 in Super Bowl XX, turning in one of the most dominant Super Bowl performances of all-time, with Singletary recovering two fumbles in the game. The Bears led the game 44-3 after three quarters, and sacked quarterbacks Steve Grogan and Tony Eason a total of seven times, led by Wilson’s two. The defense also picked Grogan off twice in the game and held the Patriots to seven yards rushing. 

The most prolific tackling game of Singletary’s career came against the Denver Broncos in 1990 in a contest in which he tallied 10 solo tackles and 10 assisted tackles. 

In 1995, Singletary was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, and in 1998 he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. 

"He is a good leader and a good person. He is a great football player. He sets a great example for young people on our team, for everybody on our team, including coaches," said former Bears' head coach Mike Ditka (1982-1992) in 1986 of Singletary.

From 2003-04, Singletary was the linebackers coach for the Baltimore Ravens, and then went on to be assistant head coach and linebackers coach for the San Francisco 49ers from 2005-08. He served as the 49ers’ interim head coach in 2008 and head coach in 2009 and 2010. He was the Minnesota Vikings’ special assistant to the head coach and linebackers coach under his former teammate Leslie Frazier from 2011-13, and was a defensive assistant for the 2016 Los Angeles Rams. From 2018-19, Singletary was the head coach at Trinity Christian Academy in Addison, Texas. He was head coach of the AAF’s Memphis Express in 2019 and was defensive coordinator of the Spring League’s Generals in 2020.  

The Bear franchise has had an impressive lineage of middle linebackers with Dick Butkus, Singletary, and Brian Urlacher. If you were to ponder the top four middle linebackers in NFL history, you would probably go with some order of Butkus, Ray Lewis, Ray Nitschke, and Singletary. 

One of the most competitive and fierce players to ever step on a football field. Happy 67th Birthday to “Samurai Mike”.