The Bears followed the same practice blueprint for Khalil Mack and his ankle they did last week, with the highest paid defensive player in NFL history sitting out Wednesday and Thursday’s practices before participating in a limited fashion on Friday. Mack, as was the case last week, is officially questionable for the Bears’ Week 8 meeting with the New York Jets on Sunday.
While coach Matt Nagy wouldn’t tip his hand as to Mack’s status for the Jets game, it may be reasonable to expect a player that’s never missed a game in his career to be active on Sunday. Nagy, though, stressed no decision has been made yet and Mack’s status is a “day to day” thing.
Nagy said Mack will have input on how much he plays, if at all, but added that it’ll be a collective decision regarding his status.
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“We’re always going to make sure that it’s together that we do it,” Nagy said. “On our end, we have trainers and doctors and everybody that are professionals in that area to make sure that everybody understands what’s the most important thing for the player. And then you take into consideration for the team, and then the coaches and Ryan (Pace) gets involved. We talk through it — what’s the best thing for the player and the team collectively?”
Nagy said Mack’s bothersome ankle is “very similar” to where it was leading up to the Bears’ loss to the Patriots in which Mack dropped into coverage more times (18) than he rushed Tom Brady (16). Getting to see Mack in game action, instead of in a limited fashion in a Friday practice, was important for the decision-making process, too. Mack didn’t have a sack or a quarterback hit against the Patriots in those 16 pass-rushing snaps.
“It was good to see, because you don’t know the level of where he’s at,” Nagy said. “And so it helps. But then, again, I think time is the biggest thing right now is when you talk to Khalil throughout this process, you gotta know: ‘Hey, was it a good day? Was it a bad day? What are you doing? Can we do more? Is there more rehab that’s needed? Is there less rehab that’s needed.’ So (head athletic trainer Andre Tucker) and those guys have done a good job of talking to him.
“I can’t stress this more to you guys. It is literally — I am telling you, trust me when I tell you — it is day to day. I mean that.”