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Move, Javier Baez. Another professional athlete in Chicago seems worthy of being the best player in his league.
Not only did Khalil Mack prove that the Bears needed the defenseman as much as the Cubs rely on Baez, but so far no other NFL player is more important to his team than Mack.
Not quarterback Patrick Mahomes, the one who escaped the Bears general manager Ryan Pace, a special smuggler who suddenly shares phrases with Peyton Manning and Tom Brady in the NFL record book. Not quarterback Ryan Buccaneers Fitzpatrick, Ivy Leaguer with the SEC arm, a guy who arrives Sunday at Soldier Field with something special to the NFL quarterbacks (not the beard): three consecutive games of 400 yards to start the season. Not Drew Brees or Aaron Rodgers or Todd Gurley or anyone else but Mack, who alone has changed the balance of power into two divisions.
Without Mack, the Bears would probably be at the bottom of the NFC North, without a win, unhappy and in full controversy with the quarterbacks. With Mack, they sit 2-1 and first in the division for the first time in five years, a team thinking that the playoffs and the development of skater Mitch Trubisky as the dominant defender buy more time.
On the other hand, look at the Raiders, and you can cover your eyes and your fingers. At 0-3, they have three sacks and a team fumble. Mack has four bags and three forced fumbles. The attackers have 23 quarterbacks collectively and Mack is 18 years old.
The former Mackie team is in trouble under the leadership of Jon Gruden, who lamented his team's lack of rusher after he left a sackman from generation to generation on the way to the Hall of Fame leaving the building . The $ 100 million coach could not in any way justify guaranteeing $ 90 million to Mack, and Raiders fans will wonder why long after the team left in 2020 in Las Vegas.
Meanwhile, Mack remains the safest bet for the NFL to join the quarterback.
It's not since Laurentian linebacker Lawrence Taylor won the award in 1986 that a defensive player has been named the most valuable player in the NFL. It's more than a provincial argument. For a long time, Peter King, a respected NFL journalist, put Mack on NBCSports.com's weekly list as a MVP candidate early in the season. Brian Baldinger, an analyst at NFL Network, tweeted that Mack "is the NFL defensive MVP (and) is giving @ChicagoBears the chance to win every Sunday." BetOnline's odds for Mack winning the NFL MVP at 50-1 on Wednesday.
It's no coincidence that the Bears rank fifth in the league in total defense at 289 yards per game, eighth in defense at 18.3 points and lead the NFL in the sacks with 14 to three games that Mack directly influenced by force.
Against the Packers, with Mack on the field eight days after the deal, he scored a touchdown during an interception, and his DeShone Kizer quarterback backpack prevented a goal attempt on the court. Against the Seahawks, Mack fired Russell Wilson and forced a fumble but, above all, he was on the court for four of the six defense bags. Against the Cardinals, Mack played the game by forcing quarterback Sam Bradford to spit a fourth-quarter fumble that led to the Bears victory on the field. This happened after Mack's first bag stunned the Cardinals in third place.
Wait for Mack to have his football legs. See the video. He explodes out of position, maintains a low base that allows him to break through, but many blockers dare to hinder his path and let his instinct and athletics do the rest. He is one of those guys good enough to use his name as a verb. Congratulations, Mr. Quarterback, you've just been Macked.
Offensive coordinators have to prepare for Mack every Sunday, and apparently the FCC officials are doing it now.
"I'm as thrilled as one (explosive)," Mack told reporters in Arizona, blasphemy that made its way onto the post-match waves of NBC Sports Chicago.
Mack's teammates feel even happier.
Its presence makes each attacker a greater threat to return the quarter and gives each defensive player a better chance of intercepting the passes. Its ability to catch more than one passlocker allows defensive coordinator Vic Fangio to rush to four and not take unnecessary risks, which is why the Bears have the lowest blitz rate in the league at 10 , 7%. Its emergence offers a top-ten defense, an opportunity to become elite and a team that comes to training camp looks at a losing season in one with realistic aspirations in the playoffs. His success raises the intensity for everyone in the Bears' locker room, who has never seen Mack like Brian Urlacher and Julius Peppers wearing navy and orange.
"What he did is completely elevate everyone else on this defense," said coach Matt Nagy. "When that happens, it's rare to have a guy who assigns a team like that. When you have Akiem Hicks and Danny (Trevathan) and Eddie (Jackson) then Roquan (Smith), all our DB's are contagious. "
It threatens to become a consensus: the Bears have the best defensive player in the league and, as we approach the quarter-finals, we are arguably the most valuable player in the NFL.
David Haugh is a special contributor to the Chicago Tribune.
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