Chicago Bears: 3 matchups to exploit against Seattle Seahawks

Khalil Mack vs. Germain Ifedi

What? You didn’t think I was going to bury the lead, did you? Poor Germain Ifedi. Talk about being run through the gauntlet. In Week 1, Ifedi, the Seahawks right tackle went up against Von Miller, the All-Pro, Super Bowl MVP, who many argue is the best defensive player in the game. In that contest, the Seahawks offensive line, and in particular Ifedi, were abused, giving up six sacks and a number of pressures to the Denver Broncos.

After the game, you can almost imagine Ifedi taking a giant deep breath and exhaling in relief. But if he did, that feeling was incredibly short lived as he realized in Week 2, he would be going up against the guy the rest of the league think is the best defensive player in the game — Khalil Mack.

For a quick refresher on what Mack did to David Bakhtiari, the Green Bay Packers Pro Bowl left tackle, take a peek at the highlights above. Mack was a dominant force in that game, impacting it in many ways. Not only did he impact it directly with his pressure, sack, interception, forced fumble, fumble recovery, and touchdown (yeesh), but also in the way his presence freed up his teammates to also get pressure on the quarterback.

If he was able to do that to a second-team All-Pro like Bakhtiari, imagine how he will feast against Ifedi. Consequently, you’d expect the Seahawks to provide a lot of help whether chipping on Mack or outright double-teaming him.

Expect Mack to win the majority of those battles, even if double-teamed. If he does, the Bears remaining front seven should have a field day.