NFL Insults Ryan Pace In Latest General Manager Rankings

Ryan Pace has done a tremendous job with the Chicago Bears since he took over in 2015. He inherited the oldest roster in the NFL. One that had no young talent to speak of and was overrun with dysfunction and division. In the span of four years he transformed it into one of the most compelling teams in the league, sporting a suffocating defense and dynamic offense.

His team went from 5-11 in 2017 to 12-4 last year, winning the division and hosting a playoff game. For this he earned Executive of the Year honors from his peers. One would think this might garner him a little more respect with the national media. That person would be wrong.

Gregg Rosenthal of NFL.com released his GM rankings for 2019 and not only did Pace fail to place high. He didn't even make it into the top 10.

Ryan Pace was beaten out by some undeserving names too

Rosenthal tried to dance around his reasoning for keeping Pace so low. Last year he chalked it up to the man being just bad at his job. This year he basically tried to insist that the team's success was due more to Matt Nagy and Vic Fangio's coaching than the actual talent on the field.

"I ranked Pace last in this exercise a year ago and heard about it from a lot of Pace loyalists who believed he was weighed down by former Bears coach John Fox. Those loyalists look pretty smart now, and my ranking looks otherwise. The excellent continuity and talent built on defense by Pace will be tested following Vic Fangio's departure, but it's clear that Pace and coach Matt Nagy have the same vision for their suddenly frisky offense.

It's on Pace's pickups -- Allen Robinson, Taylor Gabriel, Mitchell Trubisky and Anthony Miller -- to make more plays on their own in 2019 after Nagy did such a great job manufacturing offense for them a year ago."

Adding further insult to this is some of the men ranked ahead of Pace. Jon Robinson of the Tennessee Titans? He's done nothing of note to push his team out of NFL mediocrity since he took over. He had a really good draft in 2016 but hasn't produced any standouts since.

Then there's Chris Ballard.

The media favorite ranked 8th on the list. What exactly has he done to garner such praise? His 2017 draft has been deceptively bad. Nobody talks about that because he did great in 2018. That along with getting Andrew Luck back propelled the Colts into the playoffs. That makes him seven spots better than Pace?

Proof, if nothing else, that certain people have it out for the Bears GM and just won't admit it.