Why Ryan Pace Deserves Another Shot at QB if Trubisky Folds

It's not a surprise that some people are calling for the head of Ryan Pace. He poured a lot of resources into securing Mitch Trubisky. Not just a top 2 draft choice, but three extra draft choices in order to move up. All this while Patrick Mahomes was still on the board. Is Trubisky a bust? Not yet. Is he trending that way? It certainly feels like it after opening night against Green Bay. Everything about that game showcased the same problems Trubisky has had since he was a rookie in 2017.

All of that is on Pace. He made the inexperienced kid out of North Carolina his guy. I won't dispute the guts to make the move though. People tend to forget something. Evaluating quarterbacks is hard. Really hard. One can pour so much time and energy into studying every little thing about them coming out of college and still end up being wrong. It truly is often a simple shake of the dice. Unfortunately, the Bears have been on quite the losing streak for a long time now.

With that said, Trubisky is the guy and will remain that way for the rest of 2019. Chicago is not going to let one game dictate their decision-making. So it's time to ask the question. If he does fail to progress this year, will they make a change? More importantly, if they do does Pace deserve to be the man to guide that search?

Yes, and here's why.

Ryan Pace has proven he does well with second chances

Here's the thing about second chances. Sometimes the person who gets them ends up doing a lot better the second time than the first. It's true of head coaches. Many of the best in NFL history did their greatest work on their second head coaching stints. Bill Belichick. Don Shula. Mike Shanahan. The same can be applied to general managers when it comes to personnel choices. Pace has already proven he can deliver on a second swing.

Just look at Matt Nagy. Pace hired John Fox in 2015 as head coach. That turned into a disaster. The Bears allowed him another crack at it in 2018 and he goes for Nagy, who wins Coach of the Year his first season. So why can't he do the same at quarterback? After all, previous Bears GMs did it.

In 1978, Jim Finks traded a 1st round pick to the Cleveland Browns for veteran Mike Phipps. It ended up being a disaster. Fortunately, the team made the playoffs in 1979 anyway. That bought Finks enough time to try again in 1982.

That time he went with Jim McMahon.

Jerry Angelo grabbed Rex Grossman as a 1st rounder in 2003. After that death march, he adjusted his parameters and made the bold trade for Jay Cutler in 2009. While that move never got the Bears a title, nobody can argue that Cutler was vastly superior as a quarterback to Grossman.

Is it so unreasonable to think that Ryan Pace might've learned a few highly valuable lessons from this Trubisky experience? The man has built such a tremendous roster. It is truly a quarterback away from a championship. If Trubisky fails to reach expectations, Pace should get one more try to get it right.