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The Los Angeles Chargers are playing the Cincinnati Bengals at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood for Week 11's edition of Sunday Night Football. However, the Bolts are not getting help on the field from one of their best defensive weapons, with outside linebacker Khalil Mack getting ruled out for that contest due to a groin issue.
“Khalil Mack (groin) is INACTIVE tonight vs. Bengals,” posted Daniel Popper of The Athletic on X (formerly Twitter) over an hour before the Chargers-Bengals contest.
Mack's absence is hardly a surprise, given the fact that he had missed all of the Chargers' three practices heading into the Bengals game. Nevertheless, Los Angeles' stop unit figures to have lesser quality without the former Defensive Player of the Year.
Through nine games in the 2024 NFL regular season, Mack has 4.5 of the Chargers' 31 sacks entering Week 11. Only Tuli Tuipulotu and Bud Dupree have more sacks after nine Los Angeles outings than Mack, who is also an eight-time Pro Bowler and four-time First Team All-Pro.
Chargers' Khalil Mack misses first game with Los Angeles
Selected fifth overall by the then-Oakland Raiders at the 2014 NFL draft, Mack is clearly still dealing with the same injury he sustained in Week 9's game against the Cleveland Browns on the road. That was evident as well when he only appeared in a total of four snaps in Week 10's home game versus the Tennessee Titans. For what it's worth, Sunday's meeting with the Bengals is only the first time Mack has missed a contest since getting traded by the Chicago Bears to the Chargers in March of 2022.
Los Angeles relies so much on its defense in Jim Harbaugh's first season as the Chargers' head coach, as the team ranked first in the NFL overall going into Week 11 with just 13.1 points allowed per game. The Bolts also have a 9.66 defensive sack rate through nine games — top three in the league.
It remains to be seen when the 33-year-old Mack will be able to return to action and help the Chargers on the field, but Los Angeles certainly hopes that he will be back healthy in Week 12 versus a very dangerous Baltimore Ravens side in Inglewood on Nov. 25.
