Chicago Bears: 5 Biggest questions for the 2020 season
5. How much does Khalil Mack bounce back?
It’s funny just writing that question. Khalil Mack didn’t really have a bad season. He just didn’t have a Mack-type of season. He only registered 8.5 sacks, his lowest total since 2014, his rookie season (4).
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What happened with Mack was the injury to defensive end Akiem Hicks. Hicks does a great job of getting to the backfield as well. With him performing well, he took attention away from Mack. Mack could then face just one-on-one matchups and wreak havoc.
Mack’s season became very difficult when Hicks went down in Week 3. He missed Week 4, then came back in Week 5 but he was still injured and ended up playing just one more game the rest of the season.
With Hicks helping, Mack registered 4.5 sacks in the first four weeks. He only had four more sacks the rest of the season. With Leonard Floyd not doing much on the other side, Mack faced double and triple teams in every game. He had to go through walls of people to get to the quarterback. Despite that, he did finish second in quarterback pressures (49).
One of the moves Pace made was to cut Floyd and replace him with Robert Quinn. Quinn is a former All-Pro and a two-time Pro Bowl linebacker. Having him on the other side and having a healthy Hicks, teams can’t consistently double-team him. They definitely won’t be able to triple-team him for sure.
That means Mack can return to being the Mack we know. He’ll be able to attack the backfield and a lot of those almost sacks will end up being sacks. He’ll certainly get double-digit sacks again. Some feel he could get 13 sacks or so. If Quinn plays the way he usually does, though, I can see Mack doubling his sack total from last season. Yes, I can see him with 17 sacks, especially with a healthy Hicks helping him as well.