GM Ryan Pace isn’t the most popular man in the NFL these days. Plenty in the national media have made their distaste for him clear. Plenty of Chicago Bears fans are disillusioned with him as well. Mostly for one reason. That of course being the fateful decision to draft Mitch Trubisky in 2017 over future stars Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson.
This move has endured continued evaluation for three years now. People like to think it was a no brainer decision back then. In truth, most of the draft landscape had Trubisky ranked as one of the two best QBs in the class. Where Pace gets most of his criticism, and deservedly so, is how flawed the evaluation process was. Multiple sources indicated he was locked in on Trubisky early. So much so that he never actually met Watson in person. A national champion quarterback all but ignored. GMs have been fired for less.
This is why Rodney Harrison called him out on the Under Center podcast with JJ Stankevitz. The former All-Pro safety isn’t a fan of Pace’s insistence that he and the team still believe in Trubisky despite mounting evidence he isn’t the QB they envisioned.
“I’m not convinced because you’ve given Mitchell Trubisky this…you didn’t pick up his 5th-year option but yet the general manager comes out and says, ‘I believe in him.’ If you believe in him, you would’ve never brought Nick Foles in. If you believe in him, you would’ve picked up his 5th-year option. So cut the BS. Just keep it real. That’s all I say. Just keep it real.”
Harrison believes Ryan Pace is lucky to be in Chicago
It wasn’t over after that. Harrison said he liked Trubisky at first. He felt he could’ve been a productive athletic quarterback. However, after seeing what Mahomes and Watson have become? He is stunned Pace still has a job. In almost any similar situation, the GM would’ve been fired after missing on a QB opportunity like that. Yet because the Bears made the playoffs in 2018 and their history was already littered with similar misfires, Pace has survived.
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Whether he lasts much longer is a big question. While he inherited a terrible roster back in 2015, the fact remains Pace has spent four of the past five seasons out of the playoffs. If that stretches to five in six seasons, it will be difficult to find any justification to keep him. Forget the Trubisky pick. He also has a string of other high-profile blunders including Kevin White, Leonard Floyd, Adam Shaheen, Mike Glennon, Dion Sims, and Cody Parkey.
A ton is riding on this season. He better hope Nick Foles has some kind of positive impact, be it pushing Trubisky to be better or raising the offense himself. Otherwise Pace’s grand vision will have proven a failure.