Khalil Mack is great for a reason. Sure talent has a lot to do with it, but there’s also a burning desire in his gut. A desire to be great. Don’t be fooled by his even-keel exterior during interviews. This guy is a competitor. No doubt he took the opening night loss to the Green Bay Packers as hard as anybody. However, one thing that seems to have gotten him a wee bit fired up came courtesy of the Packers media after the game.
The jab came courtesy of Matt Schneidman, a beat writer of The Athletic. He boasted after the game that Packer offensive tackles David Bakhtiari and Bryan Bulaga only “lost” to Mack once in a combined 30 pass rush snaps. Thus making it seem like they completely shut the Bears All-Pro down. This is, of course, a twisting of the facts. The reality is both tackles got away with a ton of holding penalties that weren’t called. To say nothing of the fact that Mack still led his team with five total pressures on Aaron Rodgers.
Nevermind that his presence allowed the rest of the Bears front to sack the quarterback five times. Mack isn’t one to talk trash on Twitter, but he certainly made it clear he noticed the statement via a retweet. One he later removed. It’s apparent the 28-year old doesn’t hold grudges but is reminding people he has a good memory. He’s unlikely to forget that the rest of this season.
Khalil Mack is poised to feast over the coming weeks
While Rodgers may have escaped his wrath, the fact is Mack is in position to potentially feast in the next few games. It starts in Denver. Garett Bolles and Ja’Wuan James can’t be considered premier blockers. They’ll be trying to protect Joe Flacco, who isn’t really known for his mobility. Then the next week it’s on to Washington where they face a Redskins offensive line that won’t have their All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams. Their quarterback Case Keenum isn’t exactly known for his running prowess either.
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Nothing is guaranteed in the NFL but it certainly feels like Mack will get himself going over these next couple of weeks. Given how he reacted to that tweet, one must feel a tiny pang of fear for Flacco and Keenum. Mack is hard enough to deal with when he’s just rushing. What is he like when he’s rushing angry? It can’t be anything good. Defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano certainly isn’t dumb. The best thing to do is point Mack to the quarterback and turn him loose. Expect that to happen a lot moving forward.
