Chicago Bears Top 100: #74 – Patrick Mannelly

Sep 29, 2013; Detroit, MI, USA; Chicago Bears long snapper Patrick Mannelly (65) after the game against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

We’re heading into the dog days of the offseason, counting the days until the Chicago Bears 2014 season kicks off.  Thanks to Bear Goggles On contributor and the fine editor of Blackhawk Up Keith Schultz’s suggestion, we’re going to do a Top 100 list of the all time Chicago Bears.  It’s a fun way to pass the time and take a stroll down memory lane.

I feel like this post is a little redundant, since we just “eulogized” long snapper Patrick Mannelly, ranked at #74 in our Top 100 list,  last week when he confirmed his retirement after 16 seasons with the Chicago Bears.

Mannelly holds the Chicago Bears record for games played with 245 and seasons played with 16.  No one else played more than 14 season.  Mannelly broke Steve McMichael’s record of 191 games played back in 2010.  Over his career, he’s made 2282 snaps without a bad one in the bunch.  He had 81 tackles on special teams and spent the last six seasons as a captain for the Bears’ special teams.  Mannelly was the last remnant of the the Dave Wannstedt era, with his rookie season in 1998 as Wannie’s last.  He played through the entire Dick Jauron and Lovie Smith regimes, before departing after one season under Marc Trestman.

What do you think of the ranking?  Too high?  Too low?  I guess you’ll have to check back to see who finished ahead of him to judge for yourself.  We’ll be counting down a different person each day as we inch our way to the September 7th season opener.