Khalil Mack Becomes First Bear to Achieve This in 12 Years

Like it or not, Madden NFL is the one and only football video game franchise in town. Even if their titles have been one long series of meh for years now. Bitter complaints aside, one of the most anticipated parts of the game's release each year is the revelation of the player ratings. This offers an idea of how the game researchers view the hierarchy of the league at that present time. Most importantly, will any of them crack the elusive 99 Overall barrier? Khalil Mack just got his answer.

The Madden 20 makers at EA Sports revealed that only four players will garner a 99 this upcoming season. Thus far Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald and Seattle Seahawks middle linebacker Bobby Wagner was revealed as two choices. The third revelation? Yep, the Chicago Bears superstar pass rusher. Clearly, his dominating 2018 season with 12.5 sacks, six forced fumbles, and a pick-six left an impression.

Especially considering he did all that in just 14 games. Not only is that a testament to his obvious skill, but it also ends yet another notable drought for the Bears. With it, Mack becomes the first of this team to reach that elusive rating since Brian Urlacher did it way back in 2007 for the Madden 08 release.

Khalil Mack is absolutely at the star level Urlacher was

They may play completely different positions, but don't be fooled. Mack is every bit the superstar caliber that Urlacher was. His ability to take over games, make big plays in big moments, and force defenses to fashion entire gameplans around stopping him is the same thing Urlacher did for years. He earned every bit of that 99 rating and was also on the cover of the NFL 2K3 game. Hopefully, Mack can avoid that "honor" given its questionable curse history.

The crazy part is that the Bears outside linebacker reached that height in spite of some huge obstacles last year. He didn't arrive in Chicago until the beginning of September, just days before the regular season was set to begin. He'd had no training camp to prepare and zero knowledge of the defense. Then he dealt with a rough ankle injury midway through the season that hobbled him for two games and forced him to miss two others.

It didn't matter. He dominated anyway. Now he's healthy and will have a full offseason of preparation. It's scary to think he might actually top what he did last year.