Mariani takes the field tonight in Chicago

For the sixth year in his professional football career, former Havre Blue Pony and Montana Grizzly great Marc Mariani will get his chance to shine on the football field.

Mariani and the Chicago Bears open the preseason tonight when they take on the Miami Dolphins at Soldier Field in Chicago. Mariani, a former Pro Bowl return man for the Tennessee Titans, will get ample opportunities to make his case for a spot on the Bears’ 53-man roster, not just as a kick returner, but also as a wide receiver.

In 2014, as a late-season addition to the Bears’ struggling return game, Mariani had seven punt returns for 29 yards and 20 kickoff returns for 510 yards (a 25.5-yard average), including a 67-yarder. And while he’s the front-runner to land Chicago’s return job, the former three-sport Havre High star is hoping to make his mark in more ways than one.

"The way I look at that, there's only a handful of guys in the NFL that are kept on the roster solely for a return game, especially in the way they're phasing out the kick returns. You have to be able to do more," he said in a recent interview with Chicago Football. "My mind set is I've been a receiver my whole career. I want to catch balls, and I want to go out there and help us win."

Mariani has made some highlights in live action in camp when playing receiver. Some of Jimmy Clausen's best throws and biggest gains in camp have been on passes to Mariani, who acknowledges the two have been "gelling a lot" and knows the importance of showing he can be a receiver.

Now a veteran in NFL training camps, and finally healthy again, Mariani is hoping to make a big splash with the Bears, and it starts with every rep he gets in practice, but also in game’s like tonight’s game with the Dolphins, which can be streamed on the Bears’ website and will replay on NFL Network Friday.

"It doesn't matter if it's the preseason or the regular season or what it is, but when you're standing under a punt and there's live gunners and live guys coming down the barrel at you, there's always some intensity that's indescribable," he said. "There's always the jitters, excitement and intensity that I can't explain. I can't wait until Thursday night when the lights come on, standing under that punt and ready to break one off."