Khalil Mack a top-5 candidate for Defensive Player of the Year

The Bears find themselves in a state of general disarray at the moment, but one reliable constant has been the play of Khalil Mack.

With at least one sack in each of the past four games, Mack has done a great job of getting to the quarterback and pressuring the opposition. Because of his hot first half of the regular season, many bettors are favoring his chances of winning of hardware at the end of the 2020 season.

As of this moment, Mack’s odds of winning the Defensive Player of the Year are averaging at +650, roughly half of what they were at the start of the season. The Bears edge rusher is currently ranked as having the fourth-best odds, trailing behind Aaron Donald, T.J. Watt and Myles Garrett.

Mack is currently tied for fourth in the NFL with 6.5 sacks, tying Watt and Jason Pierre-Paul for that total. He is also tied for ninth in the league with 18 pressures and tied for 11th with eight hurries. His versatility on both passing downs and rushing downs has made him an extremely valuable asset to the Bears’ defense: he is tied for third among edge rushers with a 33 percent run-stop win rate, as well as tied for ninth in pass-rush win rate with 21 percent.

The five-time Pro Bowler has won the Defensive Player of the Year award once before, winning it as a member of the Raiders in 2016. Mack has a ways to go before he reaches the league lead in sacks, as both Donald and Garrett are tied for the league lead with nine sacks. Until he narrows the gap a little bit more, he likely faces tall odds to win the award again in 2020.

Regardless of whether Mack actually wins the award or not, his reliability on a down-by-down basis has made him a fantastic playmaker for the Bears’ defense.