Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Pace made a move Saturday that declared to the NFL that he is all-in with this team. Khalil Mack is now a member of the Chicago Bears. The coaching staff and roster is where Pace wants them. The weapons to win a Super Bowl are now in Chicago. Even better for Pace, he didn’t have to push his entire stack all-in to accomplish this.
The Chicago Bears Show They Are All-In With Trade for Khalil Mack
ESPN’s Adam Schefter broke the official news of the trade early in the afternoon.
Trade official, source tells ESPN:
Bears get: Khalil Mack, a 2020 second-round round pick and a conditional 2020 fifth-round pick.
Raiders get: 2019 first-round pick, 2020 first-round pick, 2020 third-round pick, 2019 sixth-round pick.
So Bears get back second-round pick, too
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 1, 2018
There were a lot of teams at the Khalil Mack table. Pace accomplished the equivalent of holding a low pair and converting it into a winning hand. Schefter tweeted the terms of the new contract a couple of hours later
Khalil Mack and the Bears just reached agreeement on a record-setting 6-year, $141 million extension ($23.5M per year avg) that includes $90M guaranteed and $60M at signing, source tells ESPN.
Mack is the new highest-paid defensive player in NFL history.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 1, 2018
The impact of the trade on Chicago’s defense, not to mention on their entire team, is incalculable. One of the main questions for the Bears heading into 2018 was where the pass rush production would come from.
The Impact on the Defense
Leonard Floyd was the ninth overall pick for Chicago in 2016 but has only managed 11.5 sacks in those two seasons. He’s also been hurt and out of the lineup for 10 games over that time. Floyd is also facing another setback to start 2018. He suffered fractures to two fingers on his right hand in the preseason. He’s expected to play Week one against the Green Bay Packers but with a cast or club protecting the hand which will limit his effectiveness.
On the other side of the defense, Vic Fangio was looking at throwing a mixture of free agent signee Aaron Lynch, Isaiah Irving and rookie Kylie Fitts onto the field to see if any or all of them could equal one competent pass rusher. That is no longer a concern.
The Bears haven’t had anyone record double-digit sacks since 2014 when Willie Young reeled in ten. That’s also the year Mack exploded on the NFL scene with the Oakland Raiders as the fifth overall pick. In those four seasons Mack has 40.5 sacks, an average of ten per year. That number has him tied for third in sacks among defensive ends since 2014.
The pocket for quarterbacks playing the Bears, namely Aaron Rodgers, Matthew Stafford and Kirk Cousins, just got a lot more uncomfortable. That should lead to an increase in turnovers. Cornerbacks Kyle Fuller and Prince Amukamara, along with safeties Adrian Amos and Eddie Jackson, gelled into a hard-hitting secondary last season but only managed eight interceptions. That number should go up as the seconds they will expected to hold coverage go down.
The Impact on the Offense
The acquisition of Mack should also make a big impact for the Bears on the offensive side of the ball. The team gained 5,106 yards on offense last season and scored 264 points. Both totals put them ranked at 29 in the league last season. Divide the points into the yards gained and you get an average of 19.3 yards of offense to score one point. Multiply that by seven and the Bears end up needing to gain an average of 135 yards to score seven points.
What does that mean? Part of that number is the offense not taking advantage of the scoring opportunities that did arise. That’s what Pace spent the early part of the off-season addressing. In 2017 the Bears fielded a group of receivers that would embarrass a semi-pro team. For 2018 they now have a corps of professional wide receivers in Allen Robinson, Taylor Gabriel and second-round draft pick Anthony Miller, along with tight end Trey Burton.
The other part of that number tells of a defense having problems getting off the field on third down and failing to create turnovers. The offense was operating on longer fields and having problems scoring because of it. The farther a team has to drive, the better chance a mistake ends their scoring chance. The Bears didn’t create enough three-and-outs or turnovers to allow their offense to have more possessions on the plus side of the field that the league’s top offenses enjoyed.
For example, the Super Bowl LI Champion Philadelphia Eagles turned 5.852 yards of offense into 457 points in 2017, an average of 89.6 yards for every seven points scored. The New England Patriots averaged 96.6 yards per seven points. The top teams in the NFL get that way by making the game easier on themselves.
Last Word
That is what Pace has accomplished by trading for Mack. Have the Bears answered all their question marks heading into the 2018? Of course not. The next test facing this team is finding out whether or not Mitch Trubisky really is genuinely a franchise quarterback.
But what is good for the Chicago Bears is that Khalil Mack instantly makes them more dangerous on both sides of the ball. With the price he paid in draft picks and a record contract Ryan Pace has made it clear to the league that he is all-in with this roster. This team is now past simply being a playoff contender and is now Super Bowl caliber.
