Bears' Mannelly has been the man 192 times

When the Bears made him their sixth-round pick out of Duke in 1998, long-snapper Patrick Mannelly never imagined that he would play more games than anyone in franchise history.

But Monday night against the Packers, Mannelly will break defensive tackle Steve McMichael's team record for games by appearing in his 192nd contest.

"It's a little different," Mannelly said, "because McMichael played 191 straight."

Mannelly has missed just three games in 13 seasons and has played in 123 consecutive games, the longest streak of any active Bear.

"You get here, drafted as a rookie, and you're just trying to make the team the first year," the 6-foot-5, 265-pound Mannelly said. "I was hoping for maybe just a little bit of a head start in life. Maybe get a year or two in and figure out what I was going to do after that, but 13 years later to still be doing this, I've been very fortunate."

Of the seven current players who have played more than 190 games, four of them are specialists, including the top three. They are long-snappers Mannelly and the Chargers' David Binn (256 games), Lions kicker Jason Hanson (289) and Panthers kicker John Kasay (207). Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis is fourth with 196 games played, followed by Bucs safety Ronde Barber (195) and Colts quarterback Peyton Manning (194).

"If you look across the league, it's kickers, punters and long-snappers (that have played the most games)," Mannelly said. "If you can become a good specialist at that, you can last longer than most guys, and you don't take the beating that the other guys take."

Mannelly hasn't missed a game in eight years, and he's only missed three in his career. In 2001, he missed a game with a sprained ankle, and in '02 he missed two with a sprained knee but was still sixth on the team with 11 special-teams tackles. He has snapped the ball for every Bears punt, extra-point and field-goal attempt since 2003, which isn't what he figured he'd be doing at age 35.

"One reason I chose Duke was hopefully to get a good education and open up some doors," Mannelly said. "One door that opened was to go work for Morgan Stanley, so I thought maybe I'd be trading stocks or doing something like that, but I like this job a lot better."

Mannelly doesn't know how much longer he'll continue to play, but he's given no indications of losing his near-flawless touch. He says he'll play, "As long as those guys upstairs say I can."

Asked if he meant Bears G.M. Jerry Angelo or God, Mannelly laughed and said: "Aren't they the same? They are in this business."