The Chicago Bears have placed Pro Bowl linebacker Khalil Mack on injured reserve. He will miss the rest of the 2021 NFL season, as reported by NFL Insider Ian Rapoport.

The six time Pro Bowler has missed the last few games after suffering a foot injury Week 3. He played through the injury but has not produced at the level we are accustomed to seeing. He has not played since a Week 7 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Mack is set to have season-ending foot surgery. On Thursday, the Bears signed veteran linebacker Bruce Irvin, and now everyone knows why. The Bears also placed one of their other veteran linebackers on season ending injured reserve, Danny Trevathan. Between Mack and Trevathan, that is a lot of production missing on the defensive side of the ball.

The Chicago Bears season is slipping away. This certainly did nothing to help that from happening. The Bears are 3-6 and cannot afford many more losses if a wild card berth was their hope. Chicago's defense has quietly played pretty well this season, ranking in the top half of a lot of statistical categories.

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Offensively, it has been a struggle. Veteran quarterback Andy Dalton began the season as the starter. The Bears did not want to throw rookie draft pick Justin Fields to the wolves. That, however, did not last long.

Fields took over as starter a few weeks into the season with mixed results.

With games against the Ravens, Packers and Cardinals in three of their next four games, it's probably time to start looking to next season.