Mike Tomczak

Mike Tomczak

Position(s) Quarterback Jersey #(s) 18
Born	October 23, 1962 (1962-10-23) (age 49) Calumet City, Illinois
Career information
Year(s)	1985–2000
College	Ohio State
Professional teams
Chicago Bears (1985-1990) Green Bay Packers (1991) Cleveland Browns (1992) Pittsburgh Steelers (1993-1999) Detroit Lions (2000) * *Inactive and/or practice squad member only
Career stats
TD-INT	88-106
Yards	16,079
QB Rating	68.9
Stats at NFL.com
Career highlights and awards
Super Bowl champion (XX)

Michael John "Mike" Tomczak (born October 23, 1962 in Calumet City, Illinois) is a former American football player. Tomczak played quarterback for several NFL teams including the Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, Cleveland Browns, and Pittsburgh Steelers.^[1]

Tomczak played football at Thornton Fractional North High School in Calumet City where he was coached by his father Ron Tomczak. After earning Illinois High School Player of the Year honors, he won an athletic scholarship to ohio state. While at OSU, he helped lead the Buckeyes to two Big Ten championship seasons. He graduated from OSU with a major in Communication.^{[citation needed]}

Tomczak went undrafted out of college and signed as an original free agent with the Chicago Bears. He started no games his first year but did earn a Super Bowl ring, and saw playing time in Super Bowl XX on January 26, 1986, during the fourth quarter of the Bears' 46-10 win over the New England Patriots. He was a member of the "Shuffling Crew" in the Bears' video for The Super Bowl Shuffle, mimicking playing guitar.

He played for the Bears until 1990 starting 31 games and throwing for 31 touchdowns and 47 interceptions. After spending a year at Green Bay and another at Cleveland, he signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers and spent seven seasons with the team, starting for much of the 1996 season and helping to guide the team into the playoffs. He started occasionally throughout his last three seasons with the Steelers, spelling Kordell Stewart for long stretches of the year in 1999.

After his contract with Pittsburgh was not renewed, he signed with the Detroit Lions in 2000 but suffered a broken right tibia in an exhibition game against the Oakland Raiders. After being forced to sit out the entire season, he retired from football, the last remaining active player from the '85 Bears team. When asked about this, he replied, "Well, I had my run and I think it's time for new rookies to take my place in this team."

For his career, Tomczak has 73 starts, completed 55.3% of his passes for 88 touchdowns and 106 interceptions.

Tomczak worked as a sports announcer in Pittsburgh, as well as a color announcer for ESPN college football games, before becoming a sports management agent. He is a director at SMG Sports Management and has continued to work as a sports commentator.

Among Tomczak's NFL career highlights, he won his first 10 starts at quarterback, all with Chicago, which set an NFL Record (breaking the mark set by former Pittsburgh Steeler Mike Kruczek). The mark was eventually topped by current Steeler QB Ben Roethlisberger. In 1988, Tomczak was the starting QB for Chicago in the famous "Fog Bowl" playoff game vs Philadelphia, guiding the Bears to a victory that put them in the NFC Title Game. Tomczak started the last 15 games of the regular season, plus two playoff games, for Pittsburgh in 1996. The Steelers won 11 of those games, losing in the playoffs to eventual AFC Champion New England. In his final regular season game, Pittsburgh lost a shoot-out against Tennessee 47-36, the highest scoring game in the history of Three Rivers Stadium. Tomczak passed for 309 yards and 2 touchdowns in his final game.

References

1. ^ "All Time Players: Mike Tomczak". NFL. http://www.nfl.com/players/miketomczak/profile?id=TOM553720. Retrieved 22 February 2010. 

External links

• Career Stats

Preceded by Art Schlichter	Ohio State Buckeyes Starting Quarterbacks 1982-1984	Succeeded by Jim Karsatos
Preceded by Jim McMahon	Chicago Bears Starting Quarterbacks 1986-1988	Succeeded by Jim Harbaugh
Preceded by Don Majkowski	Green Bay Packers Starting Quarterbacks 1991	Succeeded by Don Majkowski
Preceded by Bernie Kosar	Cleveland Browns Starting Quarterbacks 1992	Succeeded by Vinny Testaverde
Preceded by Jim Miller	Pittsburgh Steelers Starting Quarterbacks 1996	Succeeded by Kordell Stewart

Persondata
Name	Tomczak, Mike
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1962-10-23
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death