As stated in a previous article today, George McCaskey remains undecided on the fates of either head coach Matt Nagy or GM Ryan Pace. The team chairman is adhering to his family’s long-standing credo of letting men finish seasons out before deciding on their ultimate fates. If they did it for Marc Trestman and Phil Emery, then it’s only fair Nagy and Pace get that same courtesy.
Thus far nobody can say for certain what will happen in January. If the Bears fail to make the playoffs, the belief is somebody will get fired. The question becomes who? Will it be Pace? Will it be Nagy? Or will it be both? An interesting narrative that has surfaced among Bears insiders in recent weeks is the team may prefer to avoid a complete house cleaning. That means one will be fired while the other is retained.
In such a scenario, the overwhelming favorite to stay is Nagy.
Pace will have just one year left on his contract. He’ll have completed his sixth season with just one playoff appearance. He is also the one who drafted Mitch Trubisky. It wouldn’t be a challenging decision for McCaskey. Is there any sort of plan though if it comes to that? One source informed me the Bears chairman has kept himself busy doing research on potential GM candidates in recent weeks. He wished to be prepared to move quickly if Pace’s fate is sealed.
While there is a large list of names involved, the source did mention something interesting. One person, in particular, seemed to come up multiple times. That being NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah.
Subscribe to the BFR podcast and ride shotgun with Dave and Ficky as they break down Bears football like nobody else.
Jeremiah would be a big departure from Ryan Pace
One trend that teams have begun to embrace in recent years is bypassing the usual pool of GM candidates from other teams and seeking out noteworthy names in the media. John Lynch was hired as GM of the San Francisco 49ers in 2017. Then draft specialist Mike Mayock was hired away from NFL Network by the Las Vegas Raiders last year.
It is apparently the latter who has McCaskey intrigued so much with Jeremiah. Mayock’s drafting thus far has yielded big results for Vegas. Running back Josh Jacobs is already a Pro Bowler. Maxx Crosby has 16 sacks in his first two years. Trayvon Mullen has emerged as a capable corner and Henry Ruggs is every bit the deep threat everybody expected.
Jeremiah has served as a draft analyst since 2012.
Prior to that, he spent seven years as a scout for the Ravens, Browns, and Eagles. During that time he had a hand in helping his teams draft players like Haloti Ngata, Joe Thomas, Mychal Kendricks, and Nick Foles. Since taking a media role, he’s come across as somebody who does an extensive amount of film study and is always prepared. He also seems perfectly comfortable in front of cameras.
Whether he has the ability to lead an organization? That’s up for debate. The thing to remember about Lynch and Mayock? They both played in the NFL. They understood how to talk to pro players and command respect. Jeremiah did not. So if he were the choice to replace Ryan Pace, it would be a calculated gamble to be sure.
Something to watch with less than two weeks left in the regular season.