Former Chicago, Illinois Bears Super Bowl Champion Has Died

BELLEFONTE, Pennsylvania — Matt Suhey, the Chicago Bears fullback who spent a decade clearing paths for Walter Payton and scored the first touchdown of Super Bowl XX, has died at 68.

Official response and confirmed impact

The news, confirmed Sunday by NBC Chicago, removes another name from the roster of the 1985 championship team that still lives in franchise lore.

Born July 7, 1958, in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, Suhey arrived in the NFL as a second-round pick out of Penn State in 1980 and never played for anyone else.

Over 148 games, he rushed for 2,946 yards and 20 touchdowns and added 2,113 receiving yards and five more scores.

Those numbers never defined him.

His job was to hit first and let Payton finish the play, a role he accepted without complaint through the Bears’ rise in the 1980s.

That partnership became one of the league’s quieter legends.

Connie Payton later compared the two men to a married couple who could read each other’s thoughts.