The Chicago Bears seemed so sure they were doing the right thing. They had a plan. Mitch Trubisky would not have his 5th-year option picked up. Then GM Ryan Pace and head coach Matt Nagy would seek out another quarterback to compete with him for the starting job. It made sense. Give Trubisky one more shot with a fire lit under him and have some insurance on the roster in case he flopped.

However, that plan came with a risk. If both guys turned out not to be the guy this team needs, it would put the organization right back at square one at quarterback. Former GM Michael Lombardi, a long outspoken critic of Trubisky feels this could end up being the decision that ends up costing Pace his job.

Not the Trubisky pick itself but the refusal to move on from it.

By going with this half measure of trying to give the 26-year old another chance and settling for a career journeyman in Nick Foles as their insurance? That set the team up to fail. Lombardi explained on Mully & Haugh how Pace’s failure to protect himself and going along with the trade rather than making a clean break could be his final big mistake.

“I’m sure Ryan’s a really good guy but Ryan refused to be objective in this. He didn’t protect himself. All of us as decision-makers is where’s the back door? How do we get out if we make a mistake? We can’t assume we’re not going to make mistakes. It’s human nature. We make mistakes in judgment.

When he doubled down with Foles…what he’s probably telling the Bears hierarchy is, ‘Look, I got the quarterback that the head coach wanted. He wanted Nick Foles. I brought Nick Foles here. So this ain’t on me. This is on the head coach.’

Which is probably true to a degree but if you’re going to sign your letter as general manager, if you’re going to take the Executive of the Year award, then you’re going to have to exert some power over decisions you don’t necessarily agree with.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93caKY3mOnE&ab_channel=Mehmet%C3%96zkara

In essence, Ryan Pace set himself up to fail

By wanting to give Trubisky another shot, he had to give Nagy some sort of out clause. That ended up being Foles. Somebody the head coach had worked with in the past. Sure enough, just three games into the season the plug was pulled. Trubisky went to the bench and Foles went in. After a decent first few weeks, the cracks began to show and the entire facade crumbled by the end of October.

Now here the Bears are. Foles is hurt and it looks like Trubisky is set to return on Sunday night against the Green Bay Packers. Everything feels like a carousel that is going nowhere fast. All because the GM was just too unwilling to break free of his biggest career mistake. Adam Shaheen? No problem. Leonard Floyd? He can go too. Just not Trubisky. Ryan Pace was willing to ride that horse a little longer and it may have finally cost him his job.

The only hope left is if the QB somehow sparks a late rally to the playoffs.

Six games remain in the season. Chicago has to win four of them for a winning record and five to have a reasonable chance to get into the playoffs. As of now, they are 8th in the NFC seeding, one spot out of the final seventh spot. A loss in Green Bay, which feels inevitable at this point would almost certainly sink what little hope they have left.

Pace did almost everything right to get this organization back into the title picture. Sadly, like all of his predecessors, he misfired at the most important position of all. He traded up for Trubisky then compounded that mistake by not seeking a cleaner break this year and opting for an expensive trade for Foles. There is just no hiding from that.