Ryan Pace earned a lot of jeers for taking Mitch Trubisky 2nd overall in 2017. There were various reasons people were upset. For some, it was because he’d already signed Mike Glennon and the pick made no sense. For others, it was the decision to trade up from #3 to #2 to get him. A move that cost two 3rd and a 4th round picks. A price felt unnecessary to pay given Trubisky would’ve been there (this of course despite a lack of concrete evidence).
Still others felt they chose the wrong QB. He should’ve gone with the more established Patrick Mahomes or Deshaun Watson. Pace weathered the criticism, trusting in his gut and his staff that they got the right guy. A year later Trubisky went 11-3 as a starter, was named a Pro Bowl alternate, and set a franchise record with 303 passing yards in the playoff loss to Philadelphia.
So far, so good. Yet taking a quarterback in the 1st round isn’t what has made Pace different from his predecessors. Others did that too. No, his mode of operation lay elsewhere. Specifically in regards to how he’s gone about constructing the foundation around his guy. To help explain this, I’ve constructed a chart below of every 1st round QB the Bears drafted in the Super Bowl era who played at least three seasons for the team.
Then I charted the notable pieces each front office in charge added following their arrival. Some interesting revelations were discovered.
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Ryan Pace never “turned off the faucet”
Jim Finks drafts Jim McMahon (1982)
Pieces in place:
- Walter Payton (RB)
- Matt Suhey (FB)
- Emery Moorehead (TE)
- Jay Hilgenberg (C)
- Keith Van Horne (OT)
Pieces added over the next three years:
- Tim Wrightman (TE, 3rd round, 1982)
- Dennis Gentry (WR, 4th round, 1982)
- Jimbo Covert (OT, 1st round, 1983)
- Willie Gault (WR, 1st round, 1983)
- Tom Thayer (OG, 4th round, 1983)
- Mark Bortz (OG, 8th round, 1983)
- Dennis McKinnon (WR, UDFA, 1983)
Bill Tobin drafts Jim Harbaugh
Pieces in place:
- Neal Anderson (RB)
- Dennis McKinnon (WR)
- Emery Moorehead (TE)
- Jimbo Covert (OT)
- Mark Bortz (OG)
- Jay Hilgenberg (C)
- Tom Thayer (OG)
- Keith Van Horne (OT)
Pieces added over the next three years:
- Ron Morris (WR, 2nd round, 1987)
- Brad Muster (RB, 1st round, 1988)
- Wendell Davis (WR, 1st round, 1988)
- James Thornton (TE, 4th round, 1988)
- Jerry Fontenot (C, 3rd round, 1989)
Jerry Angelo drafts Rex Grossman
Pieces in place:
- Anthony Thomas (RB)
- Desmond Clark (TE)
- Olin Kreutz (C)
Pieces added over the next three years:
- Bobby Wade (WR, 5th round, 2003)
- Justin Gage (WR, 5th round, 2003)
- Bernard Berrian (WR, 3rd round, 2004)
- Thomas Jones (RB, UFA, 2004)
- John Tait (OT, UFA, 2004)
- Ruben Brown (OG, UFA, 2004)
- Cedric Benson (RB, 1st round, 2005)
- Mark Bradley (RB, 2nd round, 2005)
- Muhsin Muhammad (WR, UFA, 2005)
- Fred Miller (OT, UFA, 2005)
- Roberto Garza (OG, UFA, 2005)
Ryan Pace drafts Mitch Trubisky
Pieces in place:
- Jordan Howard (RB)
- Charles Leno Jr. (OT)
- Bobby Massie (OT)
- Kyle Long (OG)
- Cody Whitehair (C)
Pieces added over the next three years:
- Adam Shaheen (TE, 2nd round, 2017)
- Tarik Cohen (RB, 4th round, 2017)
- James Daniels (OG, 2nd round, 2018)
- Anthony Miller (WR, 2nd round, 2018)
- Allen Robinson (WR, UFA, 2018)
- Taylor Gabriel (WR, UFA, 2018)
- Trey Burton (TE, UFA, 2018)
- David Montgomery (RB, 3rd round, 2019)
- Riley Ridley (WR, 4th round, 2019)
- Cordarrelle Patterson (WR, UFA, 2019)
- Mike Davis (RB, UFA, 2019)
So have people noticed where Pace separated himself? In two key areas. Length of commitment and level of it. Notice first how the other personnel men were strong with their efforts to improve the surrounding offense both in the year the QB was drafted and the two following years. However, when reaching that third year they shifted their focus almost entirely back to the defense. No doubt assuming their work was done.
Pace made no such assumption. He kept on adding pieces that third year out, doing everything in his power to ensure Trubisky did not want for weapons. Then there is also the quality of the resources committed. Finks did a good job initially with those higher draft picks in 1982 and 1983 including two 1st rounders. Same goes for Tobin in ’87 to ’89. Angelo was decidedly less accommodating. He spent just three picks higher than the 3rd round on offense across three drafts to help Grossman and relied mostly on older free agents to fill in the gaps.
Pace hasn’t slackened at all. He’s used six picks between the 2nd and 4th rounds since 2017 to build around Trubisky. That includes his two highest selections in this past offseason. Not to mention spending a good deal of money on quality younger free agents like Robinson, Gabriel, and Burton. He refused to rest on his laurels, understanding that the key to sustained success for a quarterback was a constant pipeline of talent around him.
All of this while ensuring the defense remains one of the best in the NFL.
