Khalil Mack on Bears Defensive Cave-In: "It Was Unacceptable"
Khalil Mack rarely accepts losses well, and humiliating 41-25 losses to the Green Bay Packers count double.
"It was a huge blow but at the same time it's nothing that’s going to take us off our pivot—just rebound and get ready for the next one," Mack said.
In essence, Mack is correct but there are only five next ones left now.
The Bears (5-6) lost nothing in the playoff chase by losing to Green Bay, other than having the Vikings and 49ers move up and tie them. They still trail Arizona by a game for the last spot.
What they actually did lose is some confidence, some swagger after their highly acclaimed third-down defense and red-zone defenses posed little threat to Aaron Rodgers.
"It was unacceptable," Mack said. "You gotta understand this situation, get ready for next week. Throw this one in the trash. Get ready."
Mack has now gone three straight games without a sack.
Robert Quinn remains more rumor than fact.
Without Akiem Hicks, the run defense looked helpless and there was no interior rush to get heat on Aaron Rodgers. There was no outside rush, either.
"Very frustrating from my standpoint," Mack said. "That's something that I take personally."
Green Bays' four touchdown passes were nearly window dressing. The real game was lost in the trenches when they ran for 182 yards. It's the kind of thing that can't continue iif the Bears want to maintain hope for the playoffs.
"It starts with first and second down today," Mack said. "They did a lot of things on first and second down, running the ball was one of them.
"That's not acceptable for us. We gave up way too much first and second downs, let them run the ball at will."
Jamaal Williams had 73 yards on 17 carries, Aaron Jones 90 yards on 17 rushes. For the game, the Packers ran 39 times. As a result of all the rushing yards on earlier downs, the Packers were able to go 9-for-14 on third and fourth downs.
The Packers succeeded in isolating Buster Skrine and Danny Trevathan in mismatches within the passing game. The fact Skrine (13) and Trevathan (10) led the Bears in tackling shows how well they did with it.
Roquan Smith came into the game leading the NFL in solo tackles but had none of those.
The Bears had no sacks or quarterback hits, and cornerback Jaylon Johnson had the only tackle for loss.
Everyone knew stopping the run without Hicks would be difficult. The more physical punishment the Packers dealt out, the worse the Bears tackling became.
"Yeah, I felt like the tackling there as the game went on got sloppy," coach Matt Nagy said. "That's kind of what happens when they're being able to have successful runs and you're trying to stop them for short gains on first down.
"I'll never question our guys' quit. That's one thing that I'll never agree with anybody, is our guys quitting."
Tony Dungy on the NBC telecast had no problem saying the Bears defense had quit.
"I'd disagree with that," Nagy said. "But, was the fundamentals of the tackling, could it be better? Sure, without a doubt. But, again, that's something that our players have to dig down deep, say enough is enough. We as players and coaches didn't do that tonight."
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
