The long — and long — of it: Mannelly still getting job done

The Bears can't count on perfect weather for Monday night's nationally televised NFC North battle with the Minnesota Vikings.

And they can't count on perfect footing when they step onto the FieldTurf at the University of Minnesota's TCF Bank Stadium.

But they can count on perfection from long snapper Patrick Mannelly because it's what they have come to expect from him since 1998.

Come rain, wind or cold, Mannelly always delivers. His nickname could be “Mailman,” but Mannelly delivers on Sunday, unlike the post office.

“He's the machine that makes the whole thing work for us,” said special teams coordinator Dave Toub. “The field-goal operation and the punt operation.”

Monday night's game will be Mannelly's 135th in a row, and his 203rd overall, more than anyone in franchise history. He has missed just three games in 13 years, one in 2001 with a sprained ankle and two in 2002 with a sprained knee.

He has been long snapping almost since he started playing youth football.

He received his first professional instruction from former NFL coach Rod Dowhower, whose son was on Mannelly's high school football team in Marietta, Ga.

The 6-foot-5, 255-pound Mannelly continued to perfect his craft at Duke, where he also was a starter on the offensive line his final two years.

One of his coaches at Duke was NFL Hall of Fame offensive lineman Joe DeLamielleure, who convinced him he could parlay his skill as a specialist into an NFL career.

When Mannelly was honored last week as one of 26 NFL players on the USA Football/NFL Players Association All-Fundamentals Team, he credited the coaching he has received throughout his career for his success.

“They're the ones that made this award possible,” he said. “Without the coaches when you're a young player, this isn't going to happen. You can't get to this level without fundamentals. This award is more about the coaches than it is about me.”

That's typical of Mannelly, who also praises the work of punter Brad Maynard, who has been his holder on field-goal attempts and extra points since he joined the Bears in 2001.

“He's arguably the best holder in the league,” Mannelly said. “He makes a lot of my snaps that are poor look almost perfect, and I owe a lot to him.

“He's unbelievable. Turning the laces (so they face the right way) and catching balls that are a little high or low and making them look natural, it makes me look a lot better than I am.”

For years Mannelly has been sharing his expertise with younger players through his website, longsnapper.com, which came about in an unusual manner.

“Boredom,” Mannelly says. “It was during an off-season. I was bored, and I was looking on the Internet and I noticed there was nothing out there about long snapping.”

Mannelly recalled how when his brother Bernard, who's five years older, was a player at Notre Dame and wanted to learn how to long snap, he was handed a pamphlet.

“So I wanted to just put the information out there how to hold the ball, how to snap it and (various drills), so hopefully a kid like me who just wanted to learn how to do it could get the information.”

Mannelly has been around long enough that there are other specialists in the NFL who benefited from his online and personal instruction.

“There are a couple kids now in the NFL who, when they were in college e-mailed me and I e-mailed back,” Mannelly said. “I feel fortunate to have given them a little bit of advice and when I've played against them they've thanked me.”

By perfecting his one specialized skill, Mannelly has built a long NFL career, and he shows no signs of slipping, although his current contract expires after this season.

He's no longer a threat to make double-digit, special-teams tackles, as he did in three of his first seven seasons, but Mannelly's snaps are as crisp as ever.

“I'm hoping to continue it a few more years,” he said. “We'll see. As long as the guys upstairs, the general managers in the NFL, say I can do it. It's up to them and up to how long my body can hold up.”

When he was drafted by the Bears in the sixth round in 1998, Mannelly said he naturally entertained thoughts of being an every-down offensive lineman. But in retrospect he has changed his mind about that.

“Thirteen years later, no,” he said. “Back then, yes, I would have. But I don't think I could have played as long as I have now playing (offensive line).

He has found the perfect niche.

“I thrive on it,” he said. “I enjoy the perfectionist part of it.”

For 13 years, the Bears have enjoyed it, too.

•Follow Bob LeGere's Bears reports via Twitter@BobLeGere. Check out his blog, Bear Essentials, at dailyherald.com.