Ryan Pace is in a mess of his own making. He came so close to doing everything right. He rebuilt the roster from the ground up. The Chicago Bears have an elite defense. They have some playmakers on offense and a steady(ish) offensive line. All he had to do was find a franchise quarterback. In 2017 he got his golden opportunity with a top 3 draft pick.
Sadly he blew it. As Patrick Mahomes nets the biggest contract in sports history and Deshaun Watson is about to get a payday of his own, Mitch Trubisky might not even hold onto his job for another year. The Bears are back in quarterback purgatory with few clear avenues forward.
Yet for all the grief Pace gets about that decision, at least he actually took it. There is one other factor in play that isn't getting nearly enough attention in all this. The man has run the organization for six offseasons now. In that time he's made a total of 39 picks. To date, just one of them was a quarterback. One.
He's drafted five running backs.
If that didn't sound irresponsible enough, here's some fudge on the sundae. He's signed just two undrafted free agents in that time as well. A total of three QBs added via the college ranks in six offseasons. That is truly unforgivable.
Remember Jerry Angelo? Yeah, he's looking better than Ryan Pace
A lot of Bears fans have mixed emotions about Angelo. True he made his share of mistakes. Yet nobody can ever say he willfully ignored the most important position on his roster. Like Pace, he finally got his QB in the 1st round during his third offseason in 2003. That was Rex Grossman. Where the two start to separate is what happened after. The very next year, Angelo drafted Craig Krenzel in the 5th round. Then in 2005 he did it again, taking Kyle Orton in the 4th.
He didn't rest on his laurels. The GM kept adding to the position until somebody stepped up. Pace? He took Trubisky three years ago and hasn't added a single draft pick or undrafted free agent since. Instead he wasted roster spots on Chase Daniel and Tyler Bray. Two guys who were never going to give the coaches options in case the "impossible" happened and Trubisky didn't pan out.
Orton turned into a decent player for the Bears, overtook Grossman, and led them to a winning record in 2008. To this day teammates and coaches say they never should've traded him. Pace hasn't even left the team with this kind of option. Instead, he had to trade a 4th round pick and lots of guaranteed money to secure Nick Foles from Jacksonville.
Will it work? Maybe. Yet history offers a pessimistic outlook.
Bears trade acquisitions at QB rarely pan out as hoped. See Mike Phipps, Rick Mirer, and Jay Cutler for reminders. Foles is 31 and has never started a full season in his career. The Bears haven't see a QB go 16 games since Cutler in 2009. Do the math.
It's hard not to think this is a desperate Hail Mary by Pace to save his skin. All because of the mess he created by not having a better plan for the QB position. For a guy who operates so methodically, it's shocking how negligent he's been.
Understand this isn't a personal attack on the man. He's done some really good work in other areas. If the NFL were just about building defenses, he'd deserve a massive pay raise. Yet that isn't how it works. This league runs through the quarterback and he's painted himself into a corner.
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