Khalil Mack Makes Pro Bowl; Allen Robinson Snubbed
Perhaps out of respect for all the manpower and scheming devoted to stopping him, Chicago Bears linebacker Khalil Mack made the Pro Bowl team for the fifth straight year.
He'll be joined on the NFC team by safety Eddie Jackson and kick returner Cordarrelle Patterson.
Mack has just 7 1/2 sacks this year and may have a streak of four straight double-digit sack seasons end, but his Pro Bowl streak continues even if his stats are down. Mack made it last year but didn't play in the game due to what was reported by the Bears as a knee injury.
"I think sometimes there are outliers," coach Matt Nagy said of Mack's sack shortage. "Sometimes we go by these stats and we talk about you have to have all these stats all the time to talk about what kind of player you are. I don't know if I necessarily believe that all the time.
Nagy acknowledged Mack is going to face scheming now to a large extent after he was so effective last year.
"They're running away from you or they're chipping you or they're doing some check at the line of scrimmage, that's gonna happen," Nagy said. "That's never gonna change for the rest of his career. Would we love to be able to see more (sacks)? Yeah, but none of it is because of effort or scheme or anything like that."
Patterson made the team for the third time and the first time since 2016. Both of his other berths were with the Minnesota Vikings.
Patterson leads the NFC in kick return average at 29.6 yards per return with 27 returns for 799 yards and one touchdown. His average is just below his career average of 29.9.
The Bears haven't really gotten the type of productivity from him on offense they said they anticipated after his signing. He has 73 yards rushing on 14 carries and has 10 receptions for 78 yards. With New England last year, Patterson had 247 yards on 21 catches and rushed 42 times for 228 yards.
Jackson was somewhat of a surprise. He has had a quiet year with just one interception and will make his second straight Pro Bowl trip. He has just four passes defended after making 15 last year.
Wide receiver Allen Robinson II is the biggest Pro Bowl snub for the Bears. He has a career-high 83 receptions for 1,023 yards. Both are team highs. And he also leads the Bears with seven touchdown catches. Robinson wasn't even named one of the alternates.
Nose tackle Eddie Goldman, cornerback Kyle Fuller and punt returner Tarik Cohen are the alternates.
Fuller has three interceptions, a year after tying for the league lead with seven. Cohen is second in the NFC in punt return average and Goldman has been holding down the interior for the league's sixth-ranked run defense.
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