Chicago Bears have limited options after Matthew Stafford trade news
By Ryan Heckman
Now that Matthew Stafford is on his way out of Detroit, options are limited for Ryan Pace and the Chicago Bears.
What is a general manager to do? Pace has to know he is in what could be his last season as the Bears’ GM, and the pressure is mounting. He’s not unintelligent. He knows the calling for his firing from much of the fan base. Now, it’s time for action.
In addition to knowing it’s time to go big or go home at quarterback, Pace is now seeing a division rival making moves at the position. Saturday evening, the news officially broke about Stafford and the Lions agreeing to start searching for a trade.
Detroit is officially rebuilding. They’re looking to build something significant and realize it will take time — similar to the feeling Pace must have had six years ago, except the Lions will attempt not to miss three times in a row on such a crucial position.
With Stafford leaving Detroit in the near future, it puts Pace in an even tougher spot going forward. Do they even have a shot, now, at drafting a quarterback in the first round this year?
Ahead of the Bears are, realistically, 10 or 11 teams that could absolutely try to draft a quarterback this year. But, there are currently five quarterbacks who appear to be first-round guys.
The math certainly checks out — the odds aren’t in favor of Chicago finding their franchise quarterback in the 2021 NFL Draft; that is, of course, unless Pace does something drastic.
The way it stands right now, Pace has three options if he is to fix the quarterback position in 2021 and thus stand a chance at keeping his job in the future.