Bears eager to turn Mack loose even more
CHICAGO — Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll was like the rest of the country.
Watching Khalil Mack deliver his first sack as a Bear prove to be a headturning moment. Not only did the AllPro outside linebacker and former Oakland Raider use his speed and explosiveness to whiz past Green Bay Packers tackle Bryan Bulaga and not only did he quickly corral DeShone Kizer, Mack also ripped the football from the quarterback’s arms like a schoolyard bully manhandling a kid half his size.
“It was an extraordinary play by an extraordinary player,” Carroll said Thursday during a conference call with Chicago media. “What a showing for his first opportunity to play for (the Chicago Bears). It was a fantastic game.”
Carroll knows the difficulty his Seahawks offense will have in containing Mack on Monday night. A week after allowing Denver Broncos All-Pro Von Miller to break free for three sacks on Russell Wilson, the Seahawks will try to keep Mack from dismantling their offense.
“It’s very challenging,” Carroll said. “Because he’s a powerful player with great speed and he’s got instincts to go along with it. He’s as challenging a player as you go against in the league. ... So we’re up against it. We’ve got to be really sharp and make sure we don’t let him control the game, as he did (against the Packers).”
In addition to the strip-sack, Mack’s 27-yard interception return touchdown added to his dazzling debut. And after playing 70 percent of the defensive snaps in Green Bay, Mack expects his workload to increase in Week 2. He said Thursday that his conditioning felt fine in the loss to the Packers.
“My body was ready to play the game,” he said. “I was joking with one of my coaches, (outside linebackers coach Brandon) Staley. I said, ‘My body missed getting beat up, you know what I mean? That’s what it’s used to.’”
With all that in mind, Bears coach Matt Nagy seems eager to turn Mack loose as much as possible going forward.
“We really didn’t know exactly where he was going to be,” Nagy noted. “You saw how well he could play and what his motor was like. He told us what his motor was like, but we weren’t sure. Then we saw it. Now we’re hoping we can keep growing from that. As long as he feels good, let’s go.”