"Jake Long, the Dolphins' franchise left tackle, missed Monday's practice with an injured left shoulder suffered in Sunday's win over Tennessee.

Long's status for Thursday night's game against the Bears is unclear, but ESPN reported Monday night that Long has "some labrum damage" and might try to wear a shoulder harness this week.

"Jake's a pretty tough guy," Dolphins coach Tony Sparano said. "We'll see where we go."

Through the first 42 games of his NFL career, Long has played all but 18 of 2,838 snaps. That's a ridiculous 99.4 percent participation rate.

The first dozen of those missed snaps came in a Week 12 blowout loss against the Patriots in 2008, Long's rookie season. Six more (out of 69 total plays) came in the fourth quarter of Sunday's win over the Titans, which should give you some indication of the pain Long was feeling in his left shoulder.

Backup Lydon Murtha figures to get more work with the first unit in this truncated week. Versatile Pat McQuistan is another option if Long can't go, but none of his teammates expect that to happen.

"He's one of those tough guys," Dolphins running back Ronnie Brown said. "He's been one of those guys who's always fighting through something, whatever it may be. He never really lets you know what's going on or how he's feeling, so it's hard to tell."

Yet when asked if he thought there was any chance Long would miss Thursday's game, Brown said no."