A little help? Khalil Mack needs supporting cast to step up

The beauty of having Khalil Mack on a Bears defense loaded with playmakers — in theory — is that he’s fool-proof.

In the prime of his prime at 28, Mack either wrecks the game by destroying single, double- and sometimes triple-teams, or opponents have to use so many offensive players to neutralize him that somebody else on the Bears’ talented defense — Leonard Floyd, Akiem Hicks, Roquan Smith, Danny Trevathan, Eddie Goldman, Aaron Lynch — is going to come free or merely have to win a one-on-one battle to get to the ball carrier or the quarterback and make a big play.

That’s the way it’s supposed to work. But that pick-your-poison theory hasn’t worked in practice this season — a big reason why the Bears’ defense, while still pretty good, has not been the takeaway terror it was last year.

The loss of Hicks to a dislocated elbow against the Raiders in Week 5 that put him on injured reserve is one factor. But, starting with the Raiders game, opponents have successfully schemed to contain Mack. The three-time All-Pro linebacker, who had 4 1/2 sacks and four forced fumbles in his first four games, has one sack, three tackles-for-loss, no forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and three quarterback hits in the last five games.

And nobody has consistently taken advantage of all the attention Mack has drawn. In their first four games, the Bears’ defense had 17 sacks for 143 yards in losses (8.4 yards per sack). In the last five, with Mack contained, they have eight sacks for 36 yards in losses (4.5 yards per sack).

In the first four games, the Bears had 23 tackles-for-loss and eight takeaways. In the last five, they have nine tackles-for-loss and four takeaways.

“We’ve all got to do a better job — coaches and players — of figuring out ways [to fix that],” Bears outside linebackers coach Ted Monachino said. “If they’re going to put all this attention on one player, how can we make them pay for that?”

“That’s on me,” defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano said. “I’ve got to do a better job of putting those guys in position to take advantage of those matchups.”

It’s almost as if the Raiders — irony of ironies — provided a template on how to neutralize Mack without getting burned elsewhere when they beat the Bears in London. Because as Monachino noted, teams are using more and more offensive players to stop Mack, who had two tackles and two quarterback hits against the Lions.

“He got blocked by every position group on that offense [against the Lions],” Monachino said. “Wide receivers blocked him. Tight ends … running backs … guards, centers and tackles blocked.”

Or, as Pagano put it, everybody but the quarterback and coach Matt Patricia, “and he [Patricia] probably would have but he had a boot on [because of offseason surgery], so he couldn’t get out there to block him.”

But Pagano knows he’s got to find a solution, because he knows the word is out.

“I think everybody is watching tape,” Pagano said. “It’s like us — we have to do everything we can to make sure 99 [Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald] doesn’t wreck the game. So everybody is doing that.

“And you’re exactly right. Other guys are going to have opportunities. It falls squarely on my shoulders to put them in position to make those plays.”

Leonard Floyd is the usual suspect. The fourth-year outside linebacker has one sack and no other impact plays in the last seven games. But the Bears still like what he does.

“For the last three weeks [prior to he Lions game], I haven’t seen a player dominate his box the way he did,” Monachino said. “He played at a very high level. [Sunday] he took a little bit of a step back. We had a few things mentally that go all of us sideways — coaches and players and Leonard was no exception.”

With the offense struggling, the Bears’ defense needs to regain some of its 2018 bite. And whether it’s Floyd or Smith or Lynch or any of the interior defensive linemen, Pagano knows the Bears can’t afford to allow teams to neutralize Mack with impunity.