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Your guide to this week's Senior Bowl

Bears coach John Fox and his staff will be in Mobile, Alabama, this week to coach the North squad in the Senior Bowl at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.

The Senior Bowl annually features some of the nation's top NFL draft prospects. Only college seniors and fourth-year junior graduates are eligible for the game. Fourth-year junior graduates must have graduated by the December prior to the game to be eligible.

Bears head coach John Fox and his staff will coach the North squad in the annual Senior Bowl on Saturday Jan. 28. Practices will be held Jan. 24-26. Here's a look at players on the North roster. Not all players are pictured.

Here are 10 more facts about the Senior Bowl you may not know:

(1) The game is traditionally played on the weekend before the Super Bowl. This year's contest will kick off at 1:30 p.m. (CT) Saturday and will be televised by NFL Network.

(2) The coaching staffs from the NFC and AFC teams that finished with the worst record in their respective conferences coach the North and South squads in the Senior Bowl. Because teams that fire their coaches are not eligible, the Bears staff is working the game instead of the 49ers.

(3) After the first Senior Bowl was played in Jacksonville, Fla., in 1950, the game moved to Mobile in 1951 and has been played there every year ever since.

(4) Senior Bowl practices will be televised by NFL Network on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and by ESPN on Wednesday and Thursday.

(5) As part of the 50th Anniversary of the Senior Bowl in 1999, fans voted for an all-time Senior Bowl team. The only Bears player to make the all-time squad was running back Walter Payton, who played in the Senior Bowl in 1975.

(6) Fox will become the fourth Bears coach to coach in the Senior Bowl, following Jack Pardee (1976), Mike Ditka (1992) and Dave Wannstedt (1996).

(7) Of the prospects who played in last year's Senior Bowl, 87 were selected in the draft, including four in the first round: Quarterback Carson Wentz (second by the Eagles), defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins (12th by the Saints), guard Josh Garnett (28th by the 49ers) and defensive tackle Vernon Butler (30th by Panthers).

(8) Four players the Bears picked in last year's draft played in the Senior Bowl: Second-round offensive lineman Cody Whitehair, fourth-round linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski, fourth-round cornerback Deiondre' Hall and sixth-round safety DeAndre Houston-Carson.

(9) Senior Bowl MVPs who were later drafted by the Bears include running back Matt Forte (2008), quarterback Cade McNown (1999) and defensive lineman Steve DeLong (1965).

(10) Bears who are members of the Senior Bowl Hall of Fame include Payton (inducted in the charter class in 1988), quarterback Jim McMahon (1998) and middle linebacker Brian Urlacher (2008).

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