If Khalil Mack’s not an MVP candidate, is it even possible for a defensive player to win?

Khalil Mack has been worth his weight in gold for the Chicago Bears.

The team improved to 3-1 Sunday with a 48-10 destruction of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that saw Mack add another sack and another forced fumble to his season totals. His hit on Jameis Winston in the second half forced an interception.

Just four games into his tenure with the Bears, Mack has five sacks, four forced fumbles, and an interception he returned for a touchdown.

And yet, in the latest odds for the NFL MVP award, Mack doesn’t even make an appearance. There are 24 players on the list BetOnline put out after Week 3 — including Antonio Brown, Mitchell Trubisky, Ryan Fitzpatrick, and Saquon Barkley as the biggest long shots — but no Mack, or any other defensive player, for that matter.

If Mack continues on his current pace, he would finish 2018 by becoming the first player in four years to reach 20 sacks. He’d also smash the NFL record of 10 forced fumbles in a season held by Osi Umenyiora, Charles Tillman, and Dwayne Harper.

Mack might slow down — hell, it’s almost inevitable he stops forcing so many fumbles — but his career stats suggest he’s only going to keep sacking quarterbacks.

Over the course of his career, Mack has only got better as the year goes on with 17 of his 45.5 career sacks coming in December. He has 17.5 in September and October, combined.

It’s also noteworthy how much of a difference he’s made in Chicago. The Bears defense was already good, finishing in the top 10 in points and yards allowed in 2017. But with Mack, it’s now a turnover machine that has eight interceptions through four games. That’s how many interceptions they finished with in each of the last three seasons.

The Bears beat the brakes off the Buccaneers in Week 4, thanks mostly to five first half touchdowns from Mitchell Trubisky. But the defense is good enough to will Chicago to victory even when doesn’t play all that well.

There’s a few reasons why the Bears are now 3-1 and all alone in first place in the NFC North, but Mack’s the biggest one. Isn’t that what most valuable player is all about?

If Mack isn’t even considered a candidate at this point despite pacing for one of the best defensive seasons ever, can it even be done for a player who isn’t on offense?

Quarterbacks have won 10 of the last 11 NFL MVP awards. The only times a passer didn’t win in the last 30 years, it was a running back instead.

The last time a defensive player won was in 1986 when Lawrence Taylor had 20.5 sacks for a Giants team that finished 14-2 and eventually won a Super Bowl. He was the best player on the best team and played in an era when no quarterback finished the year with a passer rating over 93. In 2018, the whole damn league passes that well.

That means we have players like Patrick Mahomes, who has 13 touchdowns and no interceptions through three games. Or Jared Goff, who is averaging over 350 passing yards per game and has a 127.3 passer rating.

Mack’s having a great year, but quarterbacks are in the spotlight and they’re putting up better numbers than ever. If Mack continues on his current pace and isn’t a candidate by the end of the year, don’t expect a defensive player to ever be in the running again.