Patrick Mannelly Has a Peyton Manning Story and It's Tremendous

Patrick Mannelly is the longest-tenured Chicago Bears player in modern NFL history. However, he's like all of us in at least one sense. He's a fan at heart. He loves the game of football. Like a true fan he has his own collection of things reflect this. Though he has something that is infinitely cooler than most normal fans.

According to Dan Wiederer of the Chicago Tribune, Mannelly has a full collection of NFL helmets from all 32 teams. That in itself is pretty cool. Where it gets truly epic is that on several of them he's acquired the autograph players who are either current or soon-to-be Hall of Famers. Brett Favre on the Packers helmet. Troy Aikman on the Cowboys one. Marshall Faulk on the Rams and Jerome Bettis on the Steelers.

The one he's coveted most though is Peyton Manning for his Indianapolis Colts helmet. This signature has become Mannelly's white whale. A near-obsession that has haunted his life for years. The details of how he's attempted to secure it are a story in itself.

Patrick Mannelly was ready to give up on the Manning pursuit

It should've been something easy. The Bears played the Colts multiple times during Mannelly's long career. Any one of them offered a prime opportunity to secure his coveted autograph. However, it seemed like every time he tried something would go wrong. The long snapper thought the quarterback almost felt the QB was deliberately dodging him.

Bears equipment manager Tony Medlin first tried to help Mannelly get Manning’s signature at a preseason game but was unsuccessful.

Disappointing.

Still, that shouldn’t have been a major deal given Mannelly knew Colts center Jeff Saturday quite well from their high school days in Atlanta. So Mannelly shipped the helmet to Saturday.

“But then Jeff sent it back with a note that said, ‘Sorry, can’t get Peyton to sign this right now.’ I’m like: ‘What? You’re his center! Just walk over to him!’ ”

It was only human nature that Mannelly’s perception of Manning dipped a little from that rejection.

“But,” he says, “then Peyton wrote me a personal letter after I retired congratulating me on a great career.”

That was Manning’s thing — handwritten letters to select peers he admired and respected playing against.

Mannelly made that list. “Maybe,” he says, “I should just cut that out and paste it to the helmet.”

The helmet signature would've been great, but a handwritten letter from arguably the greatest quarterback in NFL history? That's way better. Rather than cut that out, put in in a frame and hang it on a prominent wall. Then find another Colts player who will be in the Hall of Fame someday like Dwight Freeney or Reggie Wayne.