Chicago Bears: Will Ryan Pace’s pride get everyone fired?
The Chicago Bears general manager will have a huge decision this offseason that will impact the entire staff.
When the final seconds tick off the clock in next Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Vikings, the Chicago Bears will have one monumental decision to make. Check that — Ryan Pace will have one monumental decision to make, and if he makes the wrong one, it will likely get himself and the entire coaching staff fired after next season.
Obviously that decision is what to do about their quarterback, Mitchell Trubisky. When Pace drafted Trubisky, loaded up on offensive weapons, and dealt a ton of draft capital for Khalil Mack, Pace pushed all his chips in on Trubisky.
He knew that with Trubisky’s rookie contract, he could afford to load up on other positions. All he needed was for Trubisky to be average, and this team would compete for the Super Bowl every year. It seemed like a reasonable ask of the No. 2 overall pick — just be good enough to not undermine a top-five defense with a generational talent.
We all know what happened next. Mitch was nothing close to average this season, and one year removed from his “Pro Bowl” season, it feels like Matt Nagy got as much out of him as he could last year with smoke and mirrors.
So where does Pace go from here? It’s not overstating things to say that this decision will likely determine the futures of Pace and the coaching staff. If he gets it wrong, it will be tough to justify keeping him in place beyond next year. And if a new general manager is hired, he is likely going to want to bring in their own guy (unless it’s Mike Borgonzi, but that’s for another time).
What Pace decides to do will likely be influenced by his commitment to Trubisky. Pace put his reputation on the line by moving up to select him over what looks like two studs in Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson. However, he is going to need to put his pride and ego aside and look at the situation objectively.
He needs to bring in a quarterback who will legitimately challenge Trubisky for the starting role and take advantage of what little is left of this window. Bringing in someone as token competition will not only do nothing for this club but will also signal that Pace was unwilling to admit his mistake in drafting Trubisky.
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Look, the damage has already been done by drafting Trubisky. Doubling down on that error by failing to immediately correct that mistake will double the amount of time it takes to recover.