Chicago Bears: Should Ryan Pace, Matt Nagy have gotten extensions?

The Chicago Bears’ tenuous commitment to Pace and Nagy might bring the worst possible outcome for the team’s future.

Wednesday may have been one of the darkest days in Chicago Bears history. In a disastrous 90-minute press conference over Zoom, owner George McCaskey and president Ted Phillips laughed in the face of their fans, expressing their acceptance of mediocrity and lack of commitment to winning at every opportunity.

After two straight 8-8 seasons, it was obvious to even the most casual of Bears fans that some sort of change was necessary. Many believed that would come in the form of GM Ryan Pace, head coach Matt Nagy or both. But McCaskey and Phillips not only announced that they’d be back, but also praised them for their efforts in an average-at-best season. Things went quickly downhill from there.

Obviously, many fans wanted Pace and Nagy out long before this presser. But what if McCaskey and Phillips’ key error wasn’t the act of bringing them back, but the conditions in which they did so? Would it have made more sense to – gasp – extend the GM and coach, or at least commit to them for more than just one year?

It’s important to acknowledge that there are very compelling arguments for letting both Pace and Nagy go. Pace has whiffed over and over again at the QB position: Mitch Trubisky, Mike Glennon, Nick Foles, Matt Barkley, Brian Hoyer, the list goes on and on. Nagy’s teams have gotten worse in each of his three years, and benching Trubisky early in the 2020 season backfired in epic fashion.

The Bears’ roster, salary cap and draft capital screams rebuild, and to do that, a new regime makes lots of sense. But there are rational arguments for keeping them around, too. Pace built a great defense after inheriting arguably the worst in the league. Nagy has never finished with a losing record despite never having a league-average QB. That’s hard to do in today’s NFL.

At the very least, McCaskey and Phillips see something in Pace and Nagy that fans don’t. There’s a good chance they’re wrong, but maybe they’re right. The question is, if they’re so confident in these two, why not extend them? Why show such lukewarm commitment? Because the way things currently stand, a lame-duck GM/coach combo might be the worst possible thing for the franchise in the long term.

Neither Pace nor Nagy received contract extensions, according to the Bears’ brass. And despite vomit-inducingly speaking of how well they “collaborate,” McCaskey said he will know “whether there’s been sufficient improvement or sufficient progress to continue past 2021.” That’s basically saying, you have one year to fix this, or you’re gone.

The problem is, it’s simply an impossible task to fix this team in one year. The Bears don’t have a quarterback. They need at least two new starters on the offensive line. If Allen Robinson walks (likely), their WR room becomes a mess. Their defensive coordinator just retired. Their defense is full of aging veterans who will need to learn a new system. Even if Pace was remarkably good at his job (and he’s not), it’s almost a guarantee this team will be worse in 2021.

But McCaskey and Phillips boxed Pace in. They told him, less through their words and more through their actions, that he is on shaky ground. So what’s he going to do? He’s going to do everything he can to improve the team in the short term, even if it means damaging the franchise in the long term.

Pace has borrowed from the future to fix the present over, and over, and over, and over again. He traded a future first-round pick for Khalil Mack. A future second to move up for Anthony Miller in the draft. A third in the Mitch Trubisky trade. A fourth for David Montgomery. Every indication is that he’s prepared to do it again to land a quarterback. “Everything is on the table,” Pace said in Wednesday’s presser.

A big move is coming. If it’s via the draft, he’ll trade future picks to move up. If it’s through free agency or a trade, he’ll push money into the future to clear cap. Why wouldn’t he? If he fails, that’s the next guy’s problem. “There are always ways to create cap space,” Pace said in his press conference. Yeah, especially when it’s not your money, Ryan.

If Pace, and therefore Nagy, had a couple extra years of job security, the chances of them overpaying and mortgaging the future go down. It’s human nature. And there’s nothing to say McCaskey and Phillips can’t still fire them while under contract. If your organization is worth $3.5 billion, paying two coaches or GMs shouldn’t be an issue. Especially if everything isn’t just about the money, as they insisted during Wednesday’s press conference.

Again, there are so many reasons to rebuild right now. The team is old and expensive. They don’t have a high pick or a quarterback. It was a mistake to run it back, and any forward-thinking organization would not have done so.

But if they were set on keeping the status quo, they went about it in the worst possible way. Instead of giving Pace and Nagy the security to properly execute their vision, Bears brass put them in a position where they will act recklessly and without regard for the future. This likely all ends in everyone getting fired after 2021 – and the team in even worse shape than they are now.