The Chicago Bears are 5-7. They’re one loss away from essentially being removed from the playoff picture. They need to go 4-0 down the stretch just to achieve a winning record. Considering this team was 5-1 at one point? That is an incredible collapse. It’s why fans are clamoring for changes throughout the organization. George McCaskey owes them a pound of flesh and it seems NBC Sports insider Peter King expects he’ll give it to them.
King made it clear from the first time he spoke in an interview with Mike Florio on Pro Football Talk that all expectations are the Bears will be cleaning house at the “top” of the football operations. It was interesting he used that phrasing. Obviously, that means Pace would be out. Could it mean team president Ted Phillips as well? Rumors are swirling McCaskey may consider a change there too, which prompted a recent report by David Kaplan of ESPN that the 63-year old president may opt for retirement.
Bottom line? It’s a formality that Pace is likely gone.
That isn’t a huge surprise. The GM has done some nice things in Chicago. He built a really good defense laden with stars. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to overcome his missteps. Particularly at the quarterback position. We can talk about Mike Glennon and we can talk about Nick Foles. Yet nothing will ever wash away his decision to draft Mitch Trubisky over Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson. An all-time blunder.
Where it gets interesting is after King says this. He almost immediately launches into an extended explanation on why the Bears should seriously consider not firing head coach Matt Nagy just yet. The insider has spoken with the coach on numerous occasions and seems to have a healthy respect for him. His reasoning is Nagy, for all that’s gone wrong with his offense, never got the chance to pick his own quarterback.
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He’d hate to see him leave Chicago, go a few years as a coordinator, and then get another chance with a new team only to find success with a QB of his choice. Ironically a genuine concern some Bears fans have expressed in recent weeks.
Peter King is saying Pace didn’t set Nagy up for success
Let it be made clear. The GM certainly thought he was doing that. He believed Trubisky was a top quarterback in waiting. All he needed was the right coaching. To Nagy’s credit, he got Trubisky into the Pro Bowl in 2018. No small feat given what people realize about the quarterback these days from his spotty field vision to the indecisiveness and inconsistent accuracy.
There were even reports as far back as last year that Nagy didn’t even view Trubisky as the top quarterback in the 2017 draft. He saw the North Carolina standout as a “project.” The fact he was so anxious to yank the 26-year old as the starter for Foles back in September (after less than three fulls games) tells the story. Nagy doesn’t think Trubisky is the guy. Peter King is saying the Bears should give him a chance to find that guy.
Not a totally unreasonable request.
In this instance, the Bears could end up pulling a scenario similar to what they did in 2012. They hire a new GM and have him spend next year evaluating Nagy. Then again if they plan to draft a QB, is that wise? The new GM could just end up firing him after one season and then bringing in a new coach who may not view that quarterback as “his” guy. It’d be repeating the same mistake Pace made back in 2017-2018 with Trubisky.
So the proper thing to do in this scenario is basically a double down on Nagy. How? By hiring a GM he has connections to. Somebody he knows and trusts. Similar to what the Buffalo Bills did with head coach Sean McDermott. They ended up bringing in Brandon Beane whom the coach knew from Carolina. They have since formed a productive partnership.
The Bears could try something similar. Either way, it’s obvious that Pace will be out of the picture.
