Do we need a Backup Long Snapper?

Backups Greg Olsen and Desmond Clark work on long-snapping every day in practice throughout training camp, but they don’t do it that much during the regular season.

Bears special teams coordinator Dave Toub was asked about the incident in the Steelers game, and he joked that every team in the NFL was probably working with their backup snappers on Monday.

Bears name Captains

The Bears selected their team captains for the 2008 season: Center Olin Kreutz and quarterback Kyle Orton on offense; middle linebacker Brian Urlacher and safety Mike Brown on defense; and long-snapper Patrick Mannelly on special teams.

“There are a lot of things that go into it,” coach Lovie Smith said when asked about the criteria of picking team captains.

“Most of the time, it’s a pretty good football player. It’s a guy who does it the right way most of the time. I’m talking about preparing off the field. You can count on him on the football field and just a guy that you want representing you."

“It’s always good to see that there are a couple guys who get votes because you have two guys out in front on both sides of the ball, but you’re going to need 11 leaders really always.”