Khalil Mack spurns a potential Chicago reunion, opting for a lucrative one-year deal with the Chargers, leaving Bears' pass rush hopes unmet.
The Chicago Bears are down another edge rusher target in free agency as of Saturday.
The Bears-Khalil Mack reunion is going to have to wait after he opted to re-sign with the Los Angeles Chargers on a one-year deal, via ESPN's Adam Schefter. Mack is rejoining the Chargers for 2026 on a deal that has $18 million guaranteed, according to ESPN's Jeremy Fowler.
Mack was with the Bears from 2018-2021 during the Matt Nagy era. He arrived there after a blockbuster trade between the Oakland Raiders and the Bears.
Chicago sent its first-round picks for 2019 and 2020, as well as a 2020 third-round pick and a 2019 sixth-round pick. The Raiders sent the Bears Mack, a conditional 2020 fifth-round pick and a 2020 second-round pick.
He made the Pro Bowl in three of the four years he spent in Chicago.
The nine-time Pro Bowler even hinted that he would be open to returning to Chicago last March. Mack just turned 35, so the thought was that the Bears could bring him in on a cheaper deal.
Mack was set to become a free agent, but that is now out the window after he re-signed with Los Angeles.
He's obviously not the same player he once was, but Mack could've definitely helped the Bears' pass rush. Chicago ranked 22nd in the NFL with 35 sacks last season.
It's becoming clearer that General Manager Ryan Poles is preparing for the future.
The Bears also didn't submit a trade for Maxx Crosby, despite stockpiling draft picks and freeing up cap space with the D.J. Moore trade and the release of linebacker Tremaine Edmunds.
Those two transactions, along with the forfeiting of Drew Dalman's salary due to his retirement, have freed up over $40 million in cap space for the Bears.
Chicago has a lot of its key players still on rookie deals and will have to pay them in a couple of years. Poles knows that and is making sure he is prepared for it.
Caleb Williams, Kyle Monangai, Rome Odunze, Luther Burden, Colston Loveland, Ozzy Trapilo, and others are still on their rookie deals. Then, there are the future extensions for players like Kyler Gordon if the Bears want to keep them around.
This offseason, the franchise is weighing contract decisions such as Kevin Byard and Jaquan Brisker.
It would've been nice to have Mack back in a Bears uniform, but Poles is building for the future in Chicago.