Sept. 7, 2026Updated Sept. 8, 2026, 1:31 p.m. ET
Matt Suhey spent his entire 10-year NFL career with the Chicago Bears.
During that time the fullback became best friends with the Bears superstar running back Walton Payton. They won a Super Bowl together, but their bond carried on long after their football careers ended.
Payton, who retired in 1988 as the NFL’s all-time leading rusher, was the godfather of Suhey’s son, Scotty. And Suhey was the “biggest father figure” to Payton’s son, Jarrett.
Jarrett Payton posted a tribute to his father’s “closest friend” a day after Suhey’s death on Sunday, Sept. 6. The Bears confirmed the death to USA TODAY Sports.
“He was my dad’s closest friend,” Jarrett Payton, Walter’s son, posted to Instagram on Monday. “After we lost my dad in 1999, Matt became the biggest father figure I had. When everything felt uncertain, he was there. My dad left him in charge and Matt never let that responsibility sit lightly. He protected our family. He looked after us. He made sure we were okay, year after year, without ever making it about himself.
“That is who he was.”
Read the full post below:
Matt Suhey Bears career
A second-round pick out of Penn State in 1980, Suhey played in 148 games for the Bears and started 100 prior to his retirement following the 1989 season. He rushed for 2,946 yards and 20 touchdowns during his career, roughly what Payton routinely produced in two years.
But Suhey was also a very effective receiver out of the backfield, catching 260 balls for 2,113 yards, including five touchdowns and 93 first downs over the course of his career.
Suhey rushed for 52 yards and the first touchdown in the 1985 Bears’ Super Bowl 20 rout of the New England Patriots, still the only time the century-plus-old organization has hoisted a Lombardi Trophy. Infamously, Payton did not score in that 46-10 runaway, an admitted oversight by head coach Mike Ditka.
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