The rumors have persisted for the last year and a half. Maybe longer. Certain local Chicago Bears insiders believe John Fox and Ryan Pace are at odds. Of course people wouldn’t know it from how the two men act in public. Both have strenuously insisted that they remain on the same page. No problems between the two exist, no matter how much people may want it to.
At the same time these rumors not only persist, but has steadily grown in strength and density. Conflict between a head coach and GM is nothing new. It happens more often than people care to admit in the NFL. Just look at the Kansas City Chiefs. Everything seemed picture perfect between Andy Reid and John Dorsey after three playoff trips in four years. Then boom, Dorsey gets fired.
So it would be hard not to accept the thought that Pace and Fox are frustrated with each other after going 9-23 in their first two seasons together. Losing can often bring out the worst in people. Now it seems like things are rushing towards a climax, with 2017 being the final battleground.
John Fox and Ryan Pace issues revolve around roster
A number of prominent NFL insiders made interesting comments recently in various media forums regarding the Fox/Pace relationship. Both alluded to the same thing: they aren’t getting along. Louis Riddick of ESPN was the first to do so during a Future Power Rankings article. In it he explains why predicting the Bears next three years is impossible because of that mercurial partnership.
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“Like most of the teams at the bottom of this list, Chicago needs to figure out what it has at QB, but that’s not what worries me most about this team. The relationship (or lack thereof) between GM Ryan Pace and head coach John Fox is concerning, and conflict between key decision-makers can become an insurmountable obstacle for a rebuilding team. Before anything can really be accomplished, this situation needs to be resolved one way or another.”
So what exactly is the primary issue that continues to drive them apart? What it always is when it involves a coach and a GM: roster composition. Both have their own ideas about the types of players they’d like. Smart money says those visions are not the same. Especially given the age gap between the two men. Fox is 62 and Pace is set to turn 40. Their ideas of top football talent can’t be identical. Benjamin Allbright of CBS Sports offered his expectations for the Bears in 2017 and dropped a big hint as to why.
Bottom ten team. Not getting better with Glennon under center and Fox not getting the players he wants.
— Benjamin Allbright (@AllbrightNFL) July 10, 2017
There were players he wanted and was overruled on.
— Benjamin Allbright (@AllbrightNFL) July 10, 2017
Which one gets the boot?
Go back through history and it will be easy to find many coaches and GMs who parted ways because of this same issue. Sometimes the coaches were fired or resigned. Sometimes the GMs were ousted and the coaches given the authority to craft the roster. One thing is clear. Unless the Bears find success in 2017, which is a long shot, the odds are either Fox or Pace will be gone by next year.
Perhaps both could go if the season is bad enough, but that’s unlikely. So who will it be? All the rumors have hinted if push came to shove that Fox is the odd man out. His age no doubt plays a factor in that, but also Pace has enjoyed some recent successes. Leonard Floyd, Akiem Hicks, Cody Whitehair and Jordan Howard are all recent additions made by him who have performed very well.
Smart money says he gets another chance to find a head coach that fits the types of players and system he’s trying to build.
