Khalil Mack is once again the talk of the NFL. He’s off to one of the best starts of his career, with 4.5 sacks and four forced fumbles through four games. If not for a penalty in Washington, he’d have 5.5 and five respectively. The man has been nothing short of dominant. Teammates like Allen Robinson have had the pleasure of being able to watch from the sidelines as he goes about his business. Everybody knows they’re watching greatness.
Mack has only been with the Chicago Bears for one and a quarter seasons and already he’s rapidly ascending the ladder of greatest defenders to ever wear the navy blue and orange. It seems a foregone conclusion he’ll be in the Hall of Fame whenever he decides to retire. The question is how much damage will he do before he gets there? It is difficult to sum up what Mack is in just a few words. That didn’t stop Adam Jahns of The Athletic from trying.
He talked to several teammates, current coaches, former coaches and notable opponents who’ve witness Mack up close. Then he asked them to describe him as succinctly as possible. There were many great answers, but the best may have belonged to Robinson.
“LeBron James. That’s kind of what I think of. When you see LeBron James on the court, you know at any point in time that that team can be successful because he’s on the court. I see the same thing as far as he’s just one of the guys who just doesn’t make the plays on defense. And when I say that, I mean you see guys getting sacks. You see guys making tackles. But he forces turnovers. That’s big. That definitely changes a lot of games and has changed a lot of games.”
Allen Robinson was dead on with LeBron comparison
It’s interesting that Robinson chose LeBron as the comparison for Mack. Anybody who watches the Bears pass rusher celebrate after several of his sacks will notice he pulls the same maneuver James does after big plays in basketball games. The basketball legend has even given Mack shoutouts on Twitter after big performances. So one can imagine how happy he would’ve been to hear Robinson make such a comparison.
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Try to imagine what might’ve happened for the Chicago Bulls had they one day managed to pull off a blockbuster trade for LeBron. It would’ve changed the entire landscape of their organization. That’s exactly what Mack has done for the Bears. They were a middling team that couldn’t get more than five or six wins a season. Since his arrival, the Bears are 16-5. They haven’t lost a game by more than seven points. Having a guy like that on defense makes this possible.
