Jim Harbaugh apparently hasn’t read the script.

The Chargers are 0-7. Khalil Mack is 35, playing on an expiring contract, and drawing interest from teams with considerably more enjoyable plans for January. The Bears have already landed Jeffery Simmons, look increasingly dangerous and happen to have a place in their hearts for No. 52.

You can see why Chicago fans might start arranging the reunion. Harbaugh would prefer everyone stop moving the furniture.

“I want Khalil Mack here,” the Chargers coach said Monday. “Khalil Mack wants to be here. He’s one of the pillars of our team.”

There goes the easy version of this story.

For weeks, Mack has been the familiar name hovering around Chicago’s trade-deadline plans. His return would satisfy two powerful demands: the Bears’ desire for another pass rusher and their fans’ desire to see a favorite wearing the right uniform again. Then Simmons arrived and made the whole idea even harder to resist.

Chicago’s new defensive tackle needed only a few days to learn enough of Dennis Allen’s defense to disrupt Seattle. Montez Sweat returned from suspension with a sack and three quarterback hits. Austin Booker blocked a field goal and tipped the pass James Lynch intercepted.

The Bears won 34-17 in the defending champions’ building. Naturally, the next question became: What would this look like with Mack, too? Harbaugh has his own question: Why should he surrender a player he still considers essential?

Asked about looking toward the future, he remained focused on rescuing the present.

“I’m focused on getting it turned, forging ahead and really striving in every way to play winning football,” he said.

That is a difficult position to sell at 0-7. It is also consistent with what reporters have been hearing from Los Angeles.

NFL insiders have continued identifying Mack as a possible Bears target while explaining that Chargers general manager Joe Hortiz has shown no indication of wanting to sell. Mack’s influence on younger edge rushers and his standing in the locker room remain part of the Chargers’ thinking. Those qualities help explain the appeal from Chicago’s side, too.

Mack would bring experience, physicality and another player opposing protections have to account for. He has three sacks in seven games this season. The Bears have been navigating Dayo Odeyingbo’s absence, and a contender can find plenty of uses for an accomplished pass rusher.

His Chicago history supplies the emotional pull.

Mack recorded 36 sacks in 53 regular-season games for the Bears. His arrival in 2018 helped turn an improving team into a division champion, and his introduction against Green Bay remains the sort of performance Bears fans can replay from memory. Getting him back for a playoff push would be an easy sell in Chicago. Getting the Chargers to agree is the part that matters.

Poles knows the difference. He traded Mack away in 2022 while clearing space for a rebuild. He has now spent two first-round picks and a fourth-rounder to acquire Simmons for a team with very different ambitions. That investment does not obligate him to make another splash.

“I’d like to think that whole process will slow down just a little bit,” Poles said after the Simmons deal.

Chicago also has secondary questions worth addressing. Its existing edge rushers just helped deliver one of the season’s best defensive performances. Another move needs to improve the roster at a price Poles can justify. Harbaugh’s comments do not mean every imaginable offer would be rejected. They do mean the Bears cannot treat Mack as merchandise waiting for a clearance sticker.

The Chargers still value him. Their coach says Mack wants to stay. No agreed deal or asking price has emerged in the reporting linking him to Chicago.

Bears fans are entitled to imagine the introductions at Soldier Field. Harbaugh is making them wait before they order the jersey.