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Many questions have been (and will be) asked about the decision of the Raiders to ship defensive end Khalil Mack to Chicago in lieu of paying him. Here’s one thing that needs to be asked about Chicago’s decision to do the deal.

Why now?

The “why” is easy. They want a great pass rusher, and they’re willing both to pay him accordingly, and to give up a bunch of draft capital to get him. The harder part is the “now.”

Mack isn’t the missing dance move toward a Super Bowl shuffle. In his four NFL seasons, the Raiders made it to the playoffs once, and they lost their only playoff game during Mack’s career. It’s wishful thinking and then some to think that Mack instantly transmogrifies the woebegone Bears to a true contender in a conference chock full of them.

So why now? Why make the investment one week before the start of the regular season, writing a check for $40 million and committing $60 million total at signing (plus plenty more to come) for a guy who will be plugged in to play in a decidedly non-plug-and-play sport?

The same draft picks would have been invested if the deal had been done next March, and the money would have gone to a player who would have spent the full offseason program, training camp, and the preseason preparing to make a big splash in Week One. Instead, Mack becomes a new wheel on a rolling Kenworth, with a long way to go and a short time to get there when it comes to getting the 2016 defensive player of the year ready to play.

So what’s the point in giving up so much money and so many draft picks for the privilege of being forced to get up to speed an admittedly great talent who has fallen out of the sky a week before a trip to Lambeau Field? Whatever the Bears are doing now they could have done six months from now, getting Mack for roughly the same picks and roughly the same money, especially since there’s no other high-end defensive players who would have pushed the bar higher than Aaron Donald did one day before the Mack deal was done.