When the losses continue to mount for a team, that’s usually when the insanity ensues. And there’s nothing more insane than the idea that the Chicago Bears should trade All-Pro outside linebacker Khalil Mack.
But that’s exactly what ESPN NFL analyst Dan Orlovsky believes the Bears should do.
Say what?
When Orlovsky was asked if he’d consider trading Mack to a team willing to give up two first-round picks, he said he would trade him because of the evolution of quick passing offenses.
“I’m such a person on building the interior of lines, and the game that the NFL is nowadays, I think Khalil Mack is a ridiculously good football player,” Orlovsky said Tuesday on Kap and Company on ESPN 1000. “I don’t need to tell anybody that. The ball comes out really quickly nowadays. The last four years I’ve said, give me interior people before edges and that’s on both sides of the ball. Give me a really good center and really good guard more than really good tackle nowadays in the NFL. Teams aren’t dropping back in condenses space and doing seven-step drops and holding the ball for four seconds like they used to and give me guys who can get the interior pressure more than the edge pressure because the ball comes out of the quarterback’s hands so quickly nowadays.”
While Orlovsky makes a fair point, the simple fact of the matter is that Mack’s impact can’t be validated by stats alone. The impact he’s had on this defense — and this team — has been immeasurable.
The Bears have lost four straight games, so naturally there’s blame to share all around. But no matter how bad things get this season — if the Bears’ losing streak continues to five straight, six straight — don’t ever let the insanity that is the idea of trading away Mack creep into your mind.
The Bears aren’t about to do what the Oakland Raiders did and trade away a generational talent in his prime.
