Chicago Bears: 5 Players who must shine vs. Chargers in Week 8

Khalil Mack, Linebacker

Khalil Mack is the undisputed leader of not only the defense but also the entire team. His arrival in Chicago signaled a new era of greatness. That may still be true but hasn’t been so far this season.

Like Smith, Mack isn’t having a bad season. He leads the league in forced fumbles with four. He has 23 tackles, six of them for loss. Also, he has 4.5 sacks and six quarterback hits. Those aren’t bad numbers, just not Khalil Mack numbers. Even when you look at the four forced fumbles, two of them were against an awful Washington offense. In fact, that Washington game might be the only time we’ve seen Mack be Mack.

I bet you didn’t know that Mack led the team in tackles against the Saints. He was quiet as a mouse in the game. Saints tackle Ryan Ramczyk shut Mack down. Mack and Ramczyk matched up 19 times and Mack lost each one. He got no quarterback pressures and got moved on running plays every time.

That just cannot happen. I know that Ramczyk is good. He kept J.J. Watt, Jadeveon Clowney, and DeMarcus Lawrence out of the backfield as well. Still, Mack should win some of the battles. He cannot be shut down like that.

I know that Mack also saw that statistic against Ramczyk and wants a different story told this week. As I mentioned before, the Chargers have a weakened offense and lost three games in a row. In fact, one of their two wins this season came against the Miami Dolphins and the other one was in overtime against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 1 a team still reeling from the sudden retirement of their star quarterback Andrew Luck days before the season began.

We learn a lot about a player’s leadership when things are going tough. I expect Mack to take the reins and have another tremendous game.