We are just about at the end of the NFL season, and big changes are in store for the Bears franchise. After another underwhelming season, reports have all but confirmed that coach Matt Nagy will be hitting the unemployment line after today’s game.
However, with GM Ryan Pace their decision may be a little more unorthodox. There are rumors that Pace will be not only retained, but promoted to team president because of his drafting ability and solid relationship with ownership. As Bears fans, we need to have some self respect and be angry to hear this. Ryan Pace’s decisions have led to one playoff appearance in seven seasons. The decision to fire him should honestly be a no brainer, but because he has assembled some talent in the late rounds, some Bears fans are now drinking the kool aid and want him to be retained. I honestly didn’t think I even needed to make this argument, but to the Bears fans that want him to stick around, here is an honest evaluation of the decisions over his career that I hope will make fans wake up and smell the coffee.
1. He has messed up the head coaching position twice.
It is mind boggling to me that fans and the organization want to put their trust in Pace picking another head coach for this team. Nagy has received much of the blame for the past few years, and while that blame is absolutely deserved, people are forgetting about the man who put Nagy in charge. Pace hired John Fox in 2015 and Matt Nagy in 2018. John Fox had three consecutive losing seasons before he was finally fired, and Nagy had one season where he won coach of the year before his one trick pony offense was figured out and gameplanned. Fox and Nagy’s poor coaching led to quarterback Mitch Trubisky’s development taking major hits, and I will cover my problem with Pace drafting Trubisky later, but maybe he would have had more of a chance if Pace had hired the proper personnel around him. Looking back, Vic Fangio’s stellar defense was responsible for their one year of success in 2018, and Nagy’s “offensive genius” he was hired as was exposed in that playoff game against the Eagles. Coaching was the true reason they lost, they should have never been in the position where Cody Parkey needed to win them the game.
2. Messed up the QB position and set them back tremendously.
Ryan Pace has also struggled greatly with handling the QB position and really hasn’t shown he’s learned from his mistakes. However, the jury is still out on Justin Fields. He has a great deal of potential, and he should have never played this season to begin with. I have hope for Fields’ future. But, the way he handled the quarterback situation this year had a very similar pattern to 2017. He has handed out bad veteran contracts to less than marginal quarterbacks (Mike Glennon and Andy Dalton), just to bench them before the first quarter of the season concludes. Glennon’s contract was especially bad. The Bears signed Glennon to a three year, $45 million deal for them to draft Trubisky two months later, without alerting Glennon in advance they were drafting Trubisky.
Most of us already know this, but drafting Trubisky over Mahomes and Watson will forever haunt this franchise. Pace traded up one spot to select the wrong quarterback, and gave up a ton of draft capital in the process. These decisions highlight a pattern of Pace’s career. He panics when there is a position of need and will overpay and make questionable decisions. These decisions lead to him mismanaging the cap and creating more holes on the team when making moves to help fill one position.
3. Late round draft picks are just one aspect of a GM’s job.
One thing that I will admit Ryan Pace does well is scout late round talent. Eddie Jackson, Darnell Mooney, Tarik Cohen, etc. have been great finds for Chicago. However, these picks only mean so much if the team is not successful. While Nagy’s coaching is obviously one of the biggest issues, the Bears have had every opportunity to find a quality quarterback, receiver, tight end and cornerback and have failed. Pace has drafted some great core pieces for the team, but he has missed on or traded away too many early round picks that would fill out the missing holes needed to bring this team over the edge. While Pace’s ability to find steals late in the draft shows he is far from the worst executive in the league, we need to demand better as a fanbase. Keeping Pace around would be a virtual statement saying “we are content with mediocrity.” The Bears need to swing for the fences, we can’t live in 1985 as fans forever.
The Chicago Bears will have a lot of questions to answer about their future after today’s game. Hopefully Nagy and Pace are not going to be a part of the future. Time for a fresh start across the board.
What are your thoughts on Ryan Pace? Am I being too hard on him or not harsh enough? Let me know in the comments.
Spot on assessment. Only thing missing is their core issue… ownership. The fish stinks from the head and in this case “the head” is the McCaskey’s.