LOS ANGELES -- Almost everything is a competition between Los Angeles Chargers outside linebackers Khalil Mack and Tuli Tuipulotu.
It's commonplace to hear one of them yelling the other's name in the locker room, sometimes to annoy, other times for a challenge. Last season, the competition of choice was shuffleboard; this season, it's cornhole, and occasionally ping pong. Tuipulotu's never afraid to trash-talk Mack; "that was weak as hell, OG," he once told Mack during a game of cornhole. Mack laughed it off: "watch this."
It's a big brother-little brother dynamic built on playful jabs and banter -- but there's a throughline of respect and admiration.
"I just want to be him," Tuipulotu said. "I want to be a great player like him, a great person like him, a great everything like him."
Across his 12 NFL seasons, Mack has accomplished nearly everything a defender can -- a Defensive Player of the Year award, five All-Pro selections, over 100 sacks -- it's a resume destined for Canton. But team success has eluded him. Mack is 0-5 in the postseason, including two painful losses in his first three seasons with the Chargers. Despite interest from other contenders in the offseason, he returned to Los Angeles ahead of this season because he believed this roster -- and this defense -- had the pieces to finally change that.
In the process, he has helped usher along the rise of the once shy Tuipulotu into becoming one of the league's most promising young edge rushers. Together, they buoy one of the league's best defenses -- one that the Chargers hope can carry them to a title. That process begins in a wild-card round matchup against the New England Patriots (Sunday, 8 p.m. on NBC/Peacock).
"Khalil is one of the best ever to do it," Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter said. "For the young guys to have him around and be putting in the work that he's putting in and the way that he's doing it, it just makes everybody better."
A 2023 THIRD-ROUND pick at 20 years old, Tuipulotu was one of the Chargers' quietest players. In the locker room -- he largely kept to himself -- often standing at his locker and silently rotating a Rubik's Cube.
He addressed many of the Chargers' veterans, such as Joey Bosa (who left for the Bills last offseason) and Mack, as "sir" for much of his first season and admitted that he was too nervous to talk to quarterback Justin Herbert due to Herbert's fame.
"His mind was churning, but the words weren't coming out yet," Mack said with a smile.
While Tuipulotu was quiet, he was always studying those around him, particularly Mack. Outside linebacker Bud Dupree, who signed with the Chargers ahead of last season, said he's noticed how Tuipulotu gravitated towards Mack. Over time, Tuipulotu got more comfortable and their relationship gradually transformed into a never-ending contest.
"Who can get into the locker room faster? Who understands this call faster? Who can make this play faster? It's always like that with them," Dupree said.
Tuipulotu began his rookie season in a rotational role behind Mack and Bosa, but injuries thrust him into a larger role than expected. He finished fifth among rookies in pressures (44) and tied for sixth in sacks (4.5).
In his second year, he took another step, leading the Chargers in sacks (8.5) and quarterback hits (17). As his play improved, so did his comfort level.
This season, with Bosa gone, Tuipulotu has developed into one of the league's most promising outside linebackers. He's sixth in the NFL in sacks (13) and earned the first Pro Bowl selection of his career.
"I feel like the sky's the limit for him," Mack said.
MACK ALMOST LEFT the Chargers in the offseason after becoming a free agent for the first time in his career and coming off his fifth playoff loss.
He said multiple contenders had reached out to him, some offering more than the one-year $18 million contract he signed with the Chargers. But he didn't want to go somewhere where he felt like he'd be wasting his time -- or a team that would give up when things got tough.
"Other places you might take a couple L's then everybody start giving up," Mack said. "I don't feel like that here."
The focus for the past four to five years of his career, Mack said, has been solely on team success and winning a Super Bowl before he retires. He said that retiring without playing in the Super Bowl would be "going out like a loser."
"It's frustrating if you think about it in the sense of what you want to leave as your legacy," Mack said. "You want to have meaningful games on your resume: playoff runs, Super Bowl and not having that -- it bothers me."
For now, Mack wants to be part of a championship team in L.A., one that he feels he helped build. But he did admit that as his career drags along, he may get to a point where just playing in the game trumps his pride.
"I might have to come off the couch like Philip Rivers," he said while laughing. "I just want to at least be at the game -- and not in the stands."
At 34 years old, he is still one of the best in the league at his position, both at playing the run and sacking the passer. And the difference in the Chargers' defense without him is staggering.
Mack missed four games with an elbow injury he suffered against the Raiders in Week 2, and the Chargers' run defense took a major hit. When he was sidelined, the Chargers allowed 579 yards rushing, the sixth-most in the NFL. Since he returned in Week 7, L.A. has allowed the fourth-fewest rushing yards (1,046).
That presence has been especially felt by Tuipulotu.
Mack has often said throughout the season that Tuipulotu isn't talked about enough, something he doesn't mind, as Tuipulotu can keep surprising opponents who may not gameplan for him.
He's been impressed by Tuipulotu's comfort level to rush at the edge spot and the interior, pointing to a sack he had against the Titans at defensive tackle. But Mack said he doesn't force advice on Tuipulotu and has always wanted the relationship to blossom organically, which it has both on and off the field.
Through Mack's leadership, he's prepared Tuipulotu to one day fill his shoes.
"I don't want to imagine [life without Mack], to be honest," Tuipulotu said. "I remember how I felt when Joey [Bosa] was gone, felt weird, felt off. So I can't imagine having both of them gone. It's going to suck. That's why I don't like thinking about it."
Until that day comes, together they hope to lead this team to the championship this franchise has longed for. It may be their last chance together.
"It's always special," Mack said of playing in the postseason. "Especially now, just because you don't know how many more opportunities you're gonna have."
