(670 The Score) Legendary Bears linebacker Mike Singletary, a star on the Super Bowl championship 1985 team, admitted he still has a distant relationship with the organization – as many former players do – but that he’s at peace with that.
“I don’t particularly have a great relationship with the Bears,” Singletary said on the Parkins & Spiegel Show on Tuesday afternoon. “You know, I talk to (president) Ted Phillips every blue moon. Ted and I know each other more so than anybody else in the building because I negotiated my contracts with Ted. We definitely go way back, but other than that, that’s really about it.”
Singletary then added that his relationship with the Bears is that of the distant type.
“What I mean is it’s not like, ‘Hey, how you guys doing?’” he said. “It’s not like. If I see anyone in the organization, I will say, ‘Hello, how are you doing?’ When I was with the Bears, basically my relationship was with the coaches, particularly Buddy Ryan and coach (Mike) Ditka and really Dave McGinnis after Buddy Ryan left. And pretty much that’s it, I didn’t have a lot of relationships when I was with the Bears. I really loved the time I was there. I had a tremendous amount of the teammates that were there, it was golden. I still love all the guys, and I love the organization. But life goes on, and you just kind of go in different directions and move on.”
Singletary, who’s now 63, is one of the greatest defensive players in NFL history. In a 12-year NFL career from 1981-’92 that was spent entirely in Chicago, he earned Pro Bowl honors 10 times and All-Pro honors eight times, including seven times on the first team. He was also named the NFL Defensive Players of the Year in 1985 and 1988.
Singletary is at peace with his distant relationship with the organization, which is a differing opinion from what a few other notable players have expressed in the past.
“It could be that most teams are like that,” Singletary said. “I really don’t know. I think if you talked with most of the players, and it sounds like from the ones that you talk to, you hear the same thing. I just think that a lot of the guys that I played with, you have a life after the game. You just kind of move on. There are other things that you can do, other talents that you have. There’s not a lot of guys that kind of look at the game and call the Bears when they’re done and say, ‘Hey, what are you guys doing? What are you thinking?’
“I was there once and did the best that I could when I was there and was part of something really special. But you move on. I don’t think there’s anything more to it than that.”