Chicago Bears: Is Ryan Pace on the hot seat this offseason?

The Chicago Bears have already had quite the busy offseason. Bringing in, for the majority, a fresh coaching regime led by head coach Matt Nagy, Chicago is looking for immediate change. Ryan Pace appears to have been allowed to finally make all of the calls when it comes to his staff.

The big question now is whether or not he will whiff during the upcoming free agency period beginning in mid-March.

Let me start by addressing the fact that Pace has done a good job, for the most part, when it comes to drafting. His first three years has seen some real gems appear especially in the later rounds. He and his staff have shown the ability to find talent in deeper rounds, which is tough to do sometimes.

Jordan Howard (fifth round), Tarik Cohen (fourth round) and Eddie Jackson (fourth round) are just a few recent examples of Pace’s ability to find guys who can come in and contribute right away, regardless of where they were drafted.

Pace seems to have a solid grip on the draft. He seems to have finally been able to assemble his coaching staff, rather than Ted Phillips forcing his hand. These are both great signs for the Bears. But, let us not forget how free agency has gone for Chicago recently.

Just last year, Pace signed Mike Glennon, Quintin Demps, Marcus Cooper and Markus Wheaton. I don’t think I need to dive much into those signings. Even the average Bears fans understand how poor of an outcome resulted of these acquisitions.

The Bears received a lot of flack for not luring A.J. Bouye or Stephon Gilmore last year. Alshon Jeffery spurned the team and went on to win a Super Bowl. To put it simply — Pace is missing out.

This offseason, Pace has to address a couple of areas in both the draft and free agency. First and foremost, obviously, there needs to be more weapons in the receiving corps for quarterback Mitch Trubisky. The Bears had arguably the worst core in the league last year. They will likely use both the draft and free agency to create competition here.

Secondly, they need help at cornerback. My bet is they do everything they can to bring back Kyle Fuller, but who will be starting alongside him? That is the more burning question when it comes to cornerback.

Third, the Bears would like to add more to their pass rush — specifically someone to pair with Leonard Floyd.

There are some names this year that have been linked to the Bears whom would delight most fans, but the question is, will the man in charge make the moves necessary to secure some of them?

Jarvis Landry, Allen Robinson, Sheldon Richardson, Trumaine Johnson and Malcom Butler are all guys that fans have clamored for in recent days. Will Pace go after any of them? If so, will he do what is necessary to ensure they don’t leave Chicago without a deal? That’s what fans want to know.

To say Pace is on the hot seat may not be fair just yet. Like I said, he has done some good things. But, rest assured, if he botches another free agency period, his job could very well be in jeopardy in 2019.