Why the Bears Keep Dropping Khalil Mack into Coverage

Khalil Mack would obviously seem at his best rushing the passer, and especially after the night he had against Tampa Bay, but the Bears say they have their reasons for letting drop into coverage occasionally

Making Khalil Mack drop into pass coverage might seem a bit like asking a world-renowned French pastry chef to grill a steak.

After the way Mack took apart the pass blocking of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Thursday, it seems like even more of a waste of time.

The Bears do it on occasion, however, and outside linebackers coach Ted Monachino explained Tuesday why they insist on the occasional pass drop.

"Well I think that if we had him doing the same thing every time they could certainly scheme for him," Monachino said.

"And I know that teams do that regardless of how many different things we do with him. They scheme for him. They have to know where No. 52 is."

The idea is simply to throw off pass blockers on occasion. It's the change-up to the fastball for the Bears on the defensive front.

"Does he prefer to drop in compared to rush? Absolutely not," Monachino said. "He would much rather be going forward which is why we have the system built the way that we do, to keep him going forward as often as possible.

"But every now and then that changeup may free up someone else or they may throw it right into coverage and those are both good things, right? If we can get some productions or effect from another place along our front by dropping Khalil three times a game then that's worth it."

Mack isn't always going to rush off the edge or go into pass coverage. He sometimes takes different routes to the quarterback.

"We're giving him enough variety in the things that he does," Monachino said. "It's not like he's always an edge rusher. Sometimes he's got an inside move, sometimes he's an edge rusher, we're dropping him in coverage a few times a game.

So it keeps those guys guessing a little bit."

The two sacks Mack had made it the 14th multiple-sack game he's had. Nine of those came in his four seasons with the Raiders.

"So we have to find ways to win every chance we can," Monachino said. "Khalil is one of those guys that you don't want to paint into a corner. You want to give him enough options for him to be successful and wreck the game when he has a chance to."

Mack has 3 1/2 sacks this season, 1 1/2 off the NFL lead. He's tied with teammate Akiem Hicks. Mack has had two sacks wiped out by penalties, one on him and the other on Mario Edwards. Mack also has a pass deflected, four tackles for loss and seven quarterback hits.

"So I think that the bottom line is this is a guy that loves ball and loves to win more than anything and whatever he needs to do to help us win he's going to do it," Monachino said. "That's the same week-in and week-out, day-in and day-out in practice. That's our guy. He's our guy."

Mack's resurgence Thursday triggered a more effective Bears pass rush.

"I just know that we smelled a little blood in the water," Mack said afterward.

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