As the Chicago Bears were getting absolutely thrashed, at home, on national television by the Kansas City Chiefs, NBC announcer Cris Collinsworth said it best: “Khalil Mack has played a great game tonight and has almost nothing to show for it.”
That’s been the story of his season, actually. You could say that it’s the story of the Bears defense as a whole. Chicago heads into the final game of the season at the Minnesota Vikings, with an ugly 7-8 record, despite surrendering the fewest total points in the NFC. It’s a championship level D, being held back by a pathetic O.
No one really saw this coming, given the breakout season that the franchise had last year. Coming off a 12-4, NFC North division title winning season, it was strange to see Chicago as underdogs in so many NFL picks against the spread. The Monsters of the Midway will finish 7-9 or 8-8, and that’s FAR below expectations. The 26-3 demolishing, at the hands of the Chiefs in the home finale just accentuated it all.
“You play games like that on TV, prime-time, ultimately you want to go out and ball — especially at home,” Mack said afterwards. “Embarrassing to us. Embarrassed our fans. Ultimately, that’s unacceptable.”
Mack has only 8½ sacks to this point through 15 games this season but he’s established his reputation across the NFL as a feared edge who commands double and sometimes triple team week in and week out. Entering the 15th week of the season, he was named to his fifth straight Pro Bowl. It’s not his fault Mitch Trubisky didn’t develop at all this season.
You can ask any Bears fan about that. Asked about the Pro Bowl repeatedly, the former Oakland Raider and Buffalo graduate was extremely evasive with the media.
He did actually say something about his own performance this season, and he was highly critical in doing so.
“It’s tough because I’m a tough critic, especially on myself,” Mack said. “It definitely wasn’t what I wanted to put on film all year. But it is what it is.”
Mack has spent this entire season being the man at the top of the priority list for the opposing offensive coordinator every week. The extra attention he attracts from opposing blockers frees up his teammates to make plays- he’s extremely valuable in this regard.
While he’s seemed invisible in certain games, he’s actually provided a lot of value as a decoy, and it’s only his sacks that are way down this season.
While his sack numbers are near career lows, his QB hurries are superlative, and pressures and forced fumbles are up there too. His QB hits are right where they were last year too, when he had an exceptional year.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
You can follow Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com on Twitter here and his cat on Instagram at this link.