Matt Suhey, the hard-nosed Chicago Bears fullback who scored the first touchdown of Super Bowl XX after eight seasons clearing a path for Hall of Fame running back Walter Payton, was 68 when he died on Sunday, September 6, 2026.
His former team confirmed Suhey’s death, releasing no other details. The Lake County Coroner’s Office said he died of natural causes and that he was found dead at his home in Deerfield, Ill., on Sunday, September 6. An initial police probe “revealed that there were no suspicious circumstances,” a coroner’s spokesperson said on Tuesday, September 8. Chief deputy Steve Newton said: “Our preliminary investigation indicated that Mr. Suhey had a significant medical history and was being treated by a primary care physician (PCP).”
Teammates were caught flat-footed by the news, in part because Suhey had looked healthy in recent weeks. Gary Fencik, the Former Bears safety, said a breakfast with Suhey had been in the works. “It was out of the blue,” Fencik said. In comments published September 8, Fencik told the Daily Herald: “I kind of remember Matt as a level-headed guy.”
First Points in New Orleans
The moment that defined him came in New Orleans on January 26, 1986. Suhey broke loose on an 11-yard scoring run in the first quarter of Super Bowl XX, putting the first points on the board in what became a 46-10 demolition of the New England Patriots. He carried 11 times for 52 yards that afternoon and added a 24-yard reception. It remains the franchise’s only Lombardi Trophy.
Blocking was not all he did that season. Suhey ranked second on the team in rushing with 471 yards as Chicago went 15-1; Payton alone finished ahead of him, running for 1,551 yards and nine touchdowns. The New York Giants and the Los Angeles Rams were both shut out by the Bears in the playoffs before New England was buried, and Suhey carried 23 times across those three postseason games, moving the chains for seven first downs. On November 10, 1985, he ran for 102 yards in a 24-3 win over the Detroit Lions at Soldier Field.
Eight Years in Front of Payton
Chicago spent a second-round pick on Suhey in the 1980 NFL Draft, taking him out of Penn State, where he ran for 2,818 yards and 26 touchdowns in four years. He never wore another uniform, playing 10 seasons with the Bears before retiring after the 1989 campaign.
Durability was his calling card. He suited up for 148 of a possible 152 regular-season games and started 100. Suhey retired with 828 carries for 2,946 rushing yards and 20 rushing touchdowns, along with 260 receptions for 2,113 yards and five scores, which came to 5,059 yards from scrimmage and 25 total touchdowns. Four times in his 10 seasons he topped 100 carries.
Suhey cared most about another man’s numbers. Payton, the Hall of Famer, spent eight years running behind him and piled up 9,800 yards and 51 touchdowns. That blocking helped push Payton to the top of the NFL’s career rushing list, and he held the spot until Emmitt Smith passed his total on October 27, 2002. Suhey did the same job for running back Neal Anderson once Payton retired, and Anderson gained more than 1,100 yards behind him in 1988. Five straight trips to the playoffs followed for the Bears, from 1984 through 1988.
A Friendship Beyond the Backfield
What the two men had went well past football. Payton was godfather to one of Suhey’s sons. Payton’s episode of the NFL series “A Football Life” described Suhey as Payton’s best friend, and in that same episode Jarrett Payton, Walter Payton’s son, said Suhey absorbed the punishment and stayed in the background so his father could collect the glory.
Suhey stayed close in 1999 as Payton was dying of liver cancer, comforting his friend and keeping the crush of reporters at a distance. One lasting image of the pair came out of a spring 1985 minicamp practice in Lake Forest: a photographer caught Payton yanking down Suhey’s shorts from behind as the fullback lined up for a play.
A Second Career on the Trading Floor
Suhey traded at the Chicago Board of Trade during his offseasons and later made that work his full-time career. He also stayed woven into the franchise’s life long after he stopped playing. When Bears offensive lineman Jim Covert entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame with the Centennial Class, Suhey served as his presenter. On September 3, 2019, he attended the unveiling of statues honoring Hall of Famers Payton and George Halas outside Gate 0 at Soldier Field.
The 1985 team, still one of the most celebrated in NFL history, absorbs another blow with his death. Steve McMichael, the Hall of Fame defensive tackle who played on that squad, died in 2025 after several years with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Jarrett Payton paid tribute on Monday, September 7, to the man who had looked after his family for decades. “After we lost my dad in 1999, Matt became the biggest father figure I had,” he wrote in a social media post. His father, he added, had left Suhey in charge, and the family had a protector in Suhey, who checked in year after year and never made it about himself.
