Patrick Mannelly has experienced more Chicago Bears games than any other player in team history. The former long snapper has team-record 245 career games under his belt that isn’t expected to be broken anytime soon. He’s seen the highs and lows of various NFL seasons, from Super Bowl appearances to bad collapses, spanning 16 years with four coaches.
In short, Mannelly knows what a good locker room should look like and believes this year’s Bears would benefit from winning the final few games of the 2022 season.
“It’s a culture thing,” Mannelly told Bears Wire. “You’re going to have Justin Fields back, Jack Sanborn back, Eddie Jackson back, Jaylon Johnson, Jaquan Brisker, Cole Kmet, all of these young guys. They need to make sure what they’re doing in-house right now is attacking work like they did in Week 1.”
Mannelly believes keeping the same fire they had to start the season will pay dividends going into 2023.
“They have to attack every work week and you can bring that culture into the next week,” Mannelly said. “I think coach [Matt] Eberflus can help sell that like Lovie Smith did to us.”
He’s a big believer in Eberflus’ H.I.T.S. principle and sees the players buying in during the coach’s first year.
“I love what he’s come up with,” Mannelly said. “I know some people in Chicago media think is funny or whatever it is and but you’re building a standard in that in that in that locker room in that building and it’s important for those guys to to uphold that.”