Lost in the shuffle on Sunday afternoon when Mitch Trubisky was throwing six touchdowns for the Chicago Bears, outside linebacker Khalil Mack was dominating on the defensive side of the football. In a strange way, Mack's ability to apply pressure and take down the quarterback has become commonplace in his first four games of the year. Against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 4, Mack was firing on all cylinders once again with his new team. Mack finished Sunday's game with four tackles, one sack, one tackle for loss, one pass deflection, one quarterback hit and one forced fumble. So far this season, Mack has recorded at least one sack and one forced fumble in every game. Mack has recorded 17 tackles, five sacks, four forced fumbles and one interception that he returned for a touchdown in his first four games with the Bears. Mack has helped change the course of the Bears defense this season. Chicago has already recorded 18 sacks in four games and the team is on pace for 72 sacks this season. Chicago sacked Green Bay Packers quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers and DeShone Kizer twice each in the regular-season opener before taking down Seattle Seawhawks quarterback Russell Wilson six times in Week 2 on Monday Night Football. In Week 3 against the Arizona Cardinals, Sam Bradford was sacked three times before Josh Rosen was sacked once. On Sunday, starter Ryan Fitzpatrick was sacked twice by the Bears before Jameis Winston was also sacked twice. Additionally, the Bears have recorded eight interceptions this season, including three on Sunday from inside linebacker Danny Trevathan, free safety Eddie Jackson and outside linebacker Aaron Lynch. Chicago also is plus-46 in point differential through four games. That is the best the team has sat through four games since hitting that mark back in 2006. Chicago went on to appear in Super Bowl XLI that season. Mack has changed the overall expectations for the organization. On September 1, the Bears gave up a 2019 first-round pick, 2020 first-round pick, 2020 third-round pick and 2019 sixth-round pick for Mack. Chicago also received a 2020 second-round pick and a conditional 2020 fifth-round pick in the deal from the Oakland Raiders. Mack missed all of training camp and the preseason with Oakland as he sat out in hopes to earn a new contract. When he was traded to the Bears he signed a six-year contract extension worth $141 million with $90 million guaranteed. Prior to joining the Bears, Mack was the fifth overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft. In his four years with Oakland he went to three Pro Bowls, was a two-time All-Pro and he won the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year award in 2016. Mack was a major acquisition for the Bears before the start of the year and has been worth every penny up to this point. Somehow he has made extraordinary plays look routine in just four games this season.<doc-sep>Related Everything You Need to Know About Week 4 of the 2018 NFL Season There are very few NFL players who can change the complexion of a game by themselves. Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady are the obvious first names that come to mind—quarterbacks who can win on one leg or overcome the longest of odds, respectively. There are a handful of non-quarterbacks who can warp games too: Julio Jones can explode for a 200-yard game at any time, Alvin Kamara can score from anywhere on the field, and Rob Gronkowski can be covered by only three defenders. The few players we have who can exert this kind of influence generally play offense, but if any defensive player deserves this same recognition, it’s Khalil Mack. There is no overstating the impact that Mack’s trade from Oakland to Chicago has had on both teams this season. Mack has been a wrecking ball in Chicago, posting four sacks, 11 tackles, three forced fumbles, a fumble recovery, a touchdown, and an interception through just three games. Through three weeks of the NFL season, Chicago is first in defensive DVOA, while Oakland is second-to-last. The Raiders are also last in Football Outsiders’ adjusted sack rate, while the Bears are first. Chicago has notched a total of 14 sacks this year, tops in the league, and they’ve done so despite blitzing at the lowest rate in football: That’s the power of Mack: He creates a pass rush seemingly by himself, allowing Chicago to keep more players in the secondary without sacrificing the defense’s ability to pressure the quarterback. It’s pretty easy to see how this works; Mack swallows quarterbacks whole even when he’s double-teamed: Mack can be seemingly everywhere at once. Watch him shove running back Chase Edmonds aside on this play, then change directions and force a fumble: The Bears now have the most exciting defense in football, an assertion that is backed up by our watchability rankings (more on those in a minute). The Chicago defense has helped the whole team creep up that leaderboard not just by ranking first in sacks, but by being tied for second in the league in takeaways, with eight on the season. They’ll be even more compelling this week when they take on the Buccaneers, owners of one of the most exciting offenses in the league. Tampa Bay has the most explosive offense outside of Kansas City. No one could have seen the Bucs’ incredible rise coming, but we should have been more clued in to at least some of their offensive prowess. The team came into the season with some of the top pass-catching talent in football in Mike Evans, DeSean Jackson, Chris Godwin, and O.J. Howard. Pairing that corps with über-aggressive play-caller Todd Monken has produced a unit that through Week 3 ranks second in big plays (receptions or rushes of more than 20 yards), second in touchdowns, and is tied for third in fewest punts. What Ryan Fitzpatrick is doing in this system right now is mind-boggling. He lead the league in yards (410 per game) through Week 3, he’s thrown for 11 touchdowns, and has put up a 124.8 passer rating. But even those numbers undersell him—he’s the only QB in NFL history to throw for 400 yards in three consecutive games. We’ve seen Fitzmagic before—remember when he led the Jets to 10-6?—and we’ve seen it turn to Fitztragic. And when the Bucs faltered early against the Steelers on Monday night, falling into a 23-7 hole after three straight drives in the second quarter ended in interceptions, it looked like the magic was running out. But Fitz came alive again, ultimately finishing with 411 yards and three touchdowns: He's alive.... HEEEEE'S ALIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE. Fitz is over 400 yards on the night. (And he did this thing with his eyes.) pic.twitter.com/ynxpzTrCfF — The Ringer (@ringer) September 25, 2018 Tampa Bay ultimately lost that game 30-27, largely due to those early picks, which underscores the problem with the Bucs’ aggressive approach: The team turns the ball over too damn much. The Bucs are tied for fifth in the league in turnovers with six so far. Turnovers could ultimately doom Fitzmagic, but Tampa Bay’s recklessly-aggressive offense could make the team’s matchup with the Bears all the more interesting. Chicago creates takeaways more than nearly any other team in the league. Pair that with the Bucs’ tendency to give the ball away, and you have an environment ripe for explosive plays. Put simply, when the Bucs offense and Bears defense meet, something interesting will happen. Watching Mack try to stifle Tampa Bay won’t just be interesting—it’ll be fun as hell. With that, here are this week’s watchability rankings. The scores are weighted so that 2017’s numbers count for 40 percent of the overall total, while this season’s numbers count for 60 percent. We’re starting to see some real upward movement from teams like the Bucs as they maintain their offensive prowess week after week. NFL Watchability Rankings, Week 4 Rank Team TDs Score Big Plays Score Punts Score TOs Score Sacks Score Takeaways Score 2017 Total 2018 Total TOTAL SCORE Rank Team TDs Score Big Plays Score Punts Score TOs Score Sacks Score Takeaways Score 2017 Total 2018 Total TOTAL SCORE 1 Los Angeles Rams 1.30 1.25 2.56 0.84 -1.53 0.72 5.49 5.14 5.28 2 Kansas City Chiefs 2.62 1.25 1.43 2.06 -0.67 -1.05 3.56 5.63 4.80 3 Los Angeles Chargers 0.65 1.92 0.87 0.23 -0.24 -0.17 4.08 3.25 3.58 4 New Orleans Saints 1.30 0.80 0.87 0.23 -0.67 -1.50 6.80 1.03 3.34 5 Pittsburgh Steelers 1.30 0.80 -0.83 -1.60 1.48 0.72 3.98 1.87 2.72 6 Carolina Panthers 0.32 -0.32 0.02 1.45 0.19 0.72 1.33 2.37 1.95 7 Baltimore Ravens 1.30 0.57 0.30 0.23 0.62 -0.61 0.97 2.42 1.84 8 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 1.63 1.70 1.15 -0.99 -0.24 0.28 -2.12 3.52 1.27 9 Detroit Lions -0.34 0.13 1.15 -1.60 1.05 -0.61 3.23 -0.23 1.16 10 Atlanta Falcons 0.65 0.57 -0.55 1.45 -1.10 -0.61 1.58 0.41 0.88 11 San Francisco 49ers -0.34 0.80 0.30 0.23 -0.24 -1.05 2.54 -0.31 0.83 12 Minnesota Vikings -0.01 -0.55 -0.55 -0.38 1.05 -0.17 1.89 -0.60 0.39 13 Chicago Bears -0.67 -1.44 0.58 -0.38 2.77 1.61 -3.16 2.46 0.21 14 Green Bay Packers -0.34 -0.77 0.02 0.84 -0.67 -0.61 2.73 -1.54 0.17 15 Philadelphia Eagles -0.34 -1.00 0.02 -0.99 0.19 -0.61 4.37 -2.73 0.11 16 Washington Redskins -0.34 -0.10 0.02 0.84 -0.24 0.28 -0.45 0.45 0.09 17 Jacksonville Jaguars -0.67 -0.55 -0.55 0.23 -0.24 -0.61 3.55 -2.39 -0.01 18 Seattle Seahawks -0.01 -0.55 -1.96 -0.38 0.19 1.61 1.52 -1.10 -0.05 19 New England Patriots -0.67 -1.22 -0.27 -0.38 -1.53 0.28 5.05 -3.79 -0.25 20 Cincinnati Bengals 0.98 1.25 0.87 -0.99 -0.24 0.28 -4.41 2.13 -0.48 21 Houston Texans -0.67 0.80 0.30 -0.38 -0.24 -0.61 -0.80 -0.80 -0.80 22 Cleveland Browns -0.34 0.13 -2.53 1.45 0.62 2.94 -7.09 2.26 -1.48 23 Miami Dolphins 0.65 -0.10 -0.55 0.23 -0.67 1.61 -5.67 1.17 -1.57 24 Dallas Cowboys -1.32 -1.44 -0.27 0.23 1.48 -1.05 -0.37 -2.38 -1.58 25 Indianapolis Colts -0.67 -1.22 0.58 0.23 1.05 0.28 -4.63 0.25 -1.70 26 Denver Broncos -0.34 1.25 -0.83 -0.38 0.62 -0.61 -4.18 -0.29 -1.85 27 Tennessee Titans -1.32 -1.67 -0.27 0.84 0.19 -0.17 -1.33 -2.40 -1.97 28 New York Jets 0.32 0.13 -0.27 -2.21 0.19 1.16 -4.18 -0.68 -2.08 29 Buffalo Bills -1.00 -0.77 -1.40 0.23 0.19 -0.17 -1.35 -2.91 -2.29 30 Oakland Raiders -1.00 0.13 0.87 -0.38 -1.96 -1.50 -3.37 -3.84 -3.65 31 Arizona Cardinals -1.65 -1.22 -0.83 -1.60 0.19 -0.17 -2.96 -5.28 -4.35 32 New York Giants -1.00 -0.55 -0.27 0.84 -1.53 -0.61 -6.59 -3.11 -4.50 Man, check out the Patriots, who have fallen all the way to 19th. No one is hitting the panic button on the team just yet, but New England has been a mess through three weeks. The Pats are below average in touchdowns, big plays, punts, turnovers, and sacks. They may still have Tom Brady, but his offense has been tough to watch—anyone who tuned in for last week’s game against the Lions would have to agree. Meanwhile, keep an eye on the Browns. They’re still 22nd, but that’s in large part due to their 2017 score.<doc-sep>It wasn't without controversy but on Sunday against the Browns, Jon Gruden got his first NFL win in 3,592 days. The new (old) Raiders coach began the season with three-straight losses and with them came questions about whether Gruden was ill-equipped to coach in today's NFL, a decade after he last patrolled the sidelines. But even before Gruden coached his first game in 2018, he did the unthinkable, trading Khalil Mack, one of the NFL's best players, to the Bears for two first-round picks. Apparently for Gruden, the alternative -- paying Mack like ... one of the NFL's best players -- wasn't worth the cost. So Mack made his way to Chicago, inked a six-year, $141 million deal, and promptly got down to business of dominating opposing quarterbacks. He entered Sunday's game against the Buccaneers with four sacks, a pick-six, three forced fumble and a pass defended. By late Sunday afternoon, Mack had added another strip sack to the stat sheet. When apprised of this development just before the Raiders faced the Browns, Gruden told NFL.com's Mike Silver, "Damn -- Khalil Mack had another strip sack? Are you ... kidding me?" Nope, not kidding, Jon. Related: Through four games, the Raiders' defense has as many sacks as Mack. Also worth noting, Gruden is well aware that his defense is desperately missing a pass rusher. Here he is after the Week 1 loss to the Rams: "When you can run the ball like they ran in the second half, it's very hard to rush the passer," he said at the time. "Obviously, we didn't get to [Jared] Goff enough, and we didn't get to [Todd] Gurley enough. We'll take a good look at the reasons why we didn't." And here's Gruden after the Raiders' Week 2 loss to the Broncos: "We gotta do something [about the pass rush], we gotta do something," he said. "We gotta get there. We gotta win some one on ones, maybe call some more blitzes. We gotta figure something out. We will." And here's Gruden before last week's game against the Dolphins: "It's hard to find a great one. It's hard to find a good one. It's hard to find one," he lamented. "College football now, they're not really dropping back to pass and throwing footballs anymore. They're throwing laterals and they're throwing bubble screens and they're throwing read options. So you've got to train these guys. It takes a little time to learn how to rush the passer. We've got some guys that are in that process right now." The Raiders sacked Ryan Tannehill once, didn't force a turnover and lost, 28-20. The good news is that Oakland finally got in the win column on Sunday. The bad news is that it came against the Browns and required some questionable late-game officiating. To his credit, Gruden seems to understand that the Raiders still have a long way to go. "We've got some veteran guys giving us some great leadership and showing us the way, and we've got a lot of rookies playing," he told Silver. "We're gonna put the wheels back on and get this thing rolling, but it's gonna take some work, and I don't want to sit here and tell everyone we've arrived. Because I'm pretty sure that's the last thing anyone wants to hear right now."<doc-sep>
Khalil Mack has been worth his weight in gold for the Chicago Bears. The team improved to 3-1 Sunday with a 48-10 destruction of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that saw Mack add another sack and another forced fumble to his season totals. His hit on Jameis Winston in the second half forced an interception. Just four games into his tenure with the Bears, Mack has five sacks, four forced fumbles, and an interception he returned for a touchdown. And yet, in the latest odds for the NFL MVP award, Mack doesn’t even make an appearance. There are 24 players on the list BetOnline put out after Week 3 — including Antonio Brown, Mitchell Trubisky, Ryan Fitzpatrick, and Saquon Barkley as the biggest long shots — but no Mack, or any other defensive player, for that matter. The case for Mack being MVP If Mack continues on his current pace, he would finish 2018 by becoming the first player in four years to reach 20 sacks. He’d also smash the NFL record of 10 forced fumbles in a season held by Osi Umenyiora, Charles Tillman, and Dwayne Harper. Mack might slow down — hell, it’s almost inevitable he stops forcing so many fumbles — but his career stats suggest he’s only going to keep sacking quarterbacks. Over the course of his career, Mack has only got better as the year goes on with 17 of his 45.5 career sacks coming in December. He has 17.5 in September and October, combined. It’s also noteworthy how much of a difference he’s made in Chicago. The Bears defense was already good, finishing in the top 10 in points and yards allowed in 2017. But with Mack, it’s now a turnover machine that has eight interceptions through four games. That’s how many interceptions they finished with in each of the last three seasons. The Bears beat the brakes off the Buccaneers in Week 4, thanks mostly to five first half touchdowns from Mitchell Trubisky. But the defense is good enough to will Chicago to victory even when doesn’t play all that well. There’s a few reasons why the Bears are now 3-1 and all alone in first place in the NFC North, but Mack’s the biggest one. Isn’t that what most valuable player is all about? Can a defensive player even win? If Mack isn’t even considered a candidate at this point despite pacing for one of the best defensive seasons ever, can it even be done for a player who isn’t on offense? Quarterbacks have won 10 of the last 11 NFL MVP awards. The only times a passer didn’t win in the last 30 years, it was a running back instead. The last time a defensive player won was in 1986 when Lawrence Taylor had 20.5 sacks for a Giants team that finished 14-2 and eventually won a Super Bowl. He was the best player on the best team and played in an era when no quarterback finished the year with a passer rating over 93. In 2018, the whole damn league passes that well. League-wide average passer rating this year is 92.4. Last year it was 85.1. Quarterbacks are feasting. — Michael David Smith (@MichaelDavSmith) September 28, 2018 That means we have players like Patrick Mahomes, who has 13 touchdowns and no interceptions through three games. Or Jared Goff, who is averaging over 350 passing yards per game and has a 127.3 passer rating. Mack’s having a great year, but quarterbacks are in the spotlight and they’re putting up better numbers than ever. If Mack continues on his current pace and isn’t a candidate by the end of the year, don’t expect a defensive player to ever be in the running again.