Chicago Bears are still thinking about bringing back Ryan Pace

Are the Chicago Bears considering keeping beleaguered general manager Ryan Pace?

That is what two Chicago Bears beat reporters recently told local sports talk station, 670 the Score.

Pro Football Weekly Executive Editor and long time Chicago Bears insider, Hub Arkush, told the Parkins & Spiegel show his sources say Pace is returning.

His sources did say Pace’s future role is yet to be determined.

Chicago Tribune Bears beat reporter, Brad Biggs said on Mully & Haugh, Pace coming back next season is possible.

"“You get vastly different opinions when you talk to people who have been in or are right around the league and have been in those positions for a long time. I talked to a guy last night, who doesn’t work for the Bears and he is just reading the tea leaves but he is involved with coaches.He said, ‘If you would have asked a month ago, he would have put Ryan Pace’s chances of staying somewhere around 55%’He thinks those chances are considerably better now. Not based on anything they have done on the field but just based on his sort of reading of the situation.Then you talk to other people and they are throwing out names like look for this guy to be the hot candidate, look for this guy to be in the mix, and for them, it is sort of fait accompli that the Bears are going to fire the GM and the coach.I don’t know. I can’t imagine they are still trying to figure out specifically what they want to do. If that is the case at Halas Hall, then there is a bigger problem than certainly meets the surface when you are just looking at the roster and the record over the last couple of seasons.”"

Biggs did say a potential three-game win streak to end the season will not save Matt Nagy as the decision to relieve him of head coaching duties after the season has been made. He believes the possible season-ending win streak will not factor into Pace staying or going.

CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora is usually not reliable on his Bears “insider” information but he also has reported Pace’s fate has not been decided.

"General manager Ryan Pace could still survive the overhaul there, with him and team president Ted Phillips aligned, sources said. However, the McCaskey family is also considering making major changes to their hierarchy, sources said, that could potentially include someone else overseeing football operations and/or serving in that team president role. There are numerous opposing factions within that organization with change on the horizon, and various scenarios for the family to consider as they try to put together a contending team again."

The McCaskey family is once again considering keeping Pace in the organization because they like him personally and professionally according to Arkush.

"“The McCaskey family is happy with him as a football executive, not just as a person.”"

There is a serious debate about keeping a general manager who is 48-64 in seven seasons with one winning season and no playoff victories. Winning franchises would have shown Pace the door last season but not the Chicago Bears which is why they are currently a losing franchise.

Instead, Bears’ ownership focus on things like renovating a practice facility, likability, and good collaboration skills as keys to a successful general manager. They ignore a fundamental football principle–you are what your record says you are.

Pace’s record screams not good enough and time to move on.

There are some other arguments for keeping Pace in the organization. The biggest argument is Pace has a solid draft record. NBC Sports Chicago Bears beat reporter, Adam Hoge took a look into that and found that Pace’s record is not as good as some make it out to be.

Still, the McCaskey’s own the Bears. It is their call to retain Pace. The only way–fans will not like it–he can stay is if he is given a boss with football expertise.

Pace cannot report to the team president and CEO, Ted Philips. His record and his failures prove he cannot be trusted as the football operations president that is being speculated about.

Someone with football expertise–something Philips admits he does not possess–needs to be able to overrule Pace when he thinks it is a good idea to trade multiple picks to move up a few spots to nab an undersized wide receiver or a tackle with an injury history.

The McCaskeys would finally be doing the right thing by removing Philips from the football side, hiring a football person to oversee the football side but forcing that person to keep Pace because he is a good guy.

That situation would be so Bears.

The potential new football czar should be given free rein to remake the football operations as that person sees fit. Plus, it has been seven years with Pace involved and the Bears have drifted further away from the Super Bowl than when they hired him.

This team needs a complete reboot and would be best served to boot Pace out the door.