Not everybody bought into the idea that the Chicago Bears landing Justin Fields was preordained. More than a few thought it was a long shot at best. Among those who were most skeptical? None other than Ryan Pace himself. The Bears GM is never what you’d call a pessimist, but he also comes across as somebody who tries to stay realistic about what his team can or can’t do over the course of an offseason.

When it came to Fields? It wasn’t a question of desire. Pace wanted the Ohio State quarterback. He became convinced the kid could headline a franchise fairly early in the predraft process. The problem is plenty of other teams had to have reached a similar conclusion. With the Bears sitting almost helplessly at #20 overall, it was just hard to imagine they had a shot. Pace even revealed to Adam Jahns of The Athletic how low the odds were in his mind.

“I’m kind of telling Matt, like, ‘Realistically, these top quarterbacks, it’s a 5 percent chance, man. It’s a 5, maybe 10 percent chance,’” he said. “I’m just trying to set expectations.”

Nagy, for the most part, didn’t want to hear it, reverting to his default setting. “Matt’s an optimist,” Pace said. “That’s what I love about him. He’s always optimistic that somehow maybe there’s a way.”

Amazing. Pace thought there was a 5% chance Fields would land in Chicago.

When looking at how things lined up? It’s not hard to understand why. Think about it. After Trevor Lawrence going #1, both the New York Jets and San Francisco 49ers had to take different quarterbacks. They did. Then the Atlanta Falcons, who had a 36-year old Matt Ryan to assess, chose to pass on taking a QB. From there the Detroit Lions had to stand by Jared Goff at #7 while the Carolina Panthers (#8) and Denver Broncos (#9) banked on Sam Darnold and Drew Lock being their guys.

Last but certainly not least, the Philadelphia Eagles had to stick with Jalen Hurts following their trade up to #10 and take a wide receiver instead. That was a total of seven teams who either needed a quarterback or could’ve justified taking one deciding either to take a different QB or target another position. This set the stage for Chicago to jump up to #11 and steal their guy.

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Ryan Pace deserves credit for not getting crazy in his efforts

It would’ve been easy for the GM to pull out all the stops necessary to land Fields. Many people thought that is exactly what he’d do. Mortgage the future of the franchise to save his job after two frustrating seasons in 2019 and 2020. Instead, he managed to stay disciplined in his approach. When he learned the price of moving all the way up to #4, he decided it was far too expensive. The same was true when placing calls to Carolina and Denver. While both were open to moving back, it would’ve taken astronomical offers to make happen.

So Pace kept waiting. Seeking that opportunity to jump at a price he was willing to live with. All the while praying no other team got the jump on him first. He finally found it with the Giants at #11. A future 1st round pick and two mid round picks. This gave New York a major future pick they wanted while allowing the Bears to retain all of their Day 2 selections over the next two years. Something that could prove pivotal to their efforts in building around their new quarterback.

Mission accomplished.

Nagy’s reaction told the entire story. A literal scream of joy when the thumbs up came that the deal was happening. Fields was going to be a Bear. Could this crazy sequence of events end up giving Ryan Pace what almost no GM ever gets in the NFL? That being a chance to rewrite his legacy. Right now he’s known primarily for his blunder drafting Mitch Trubisky four years ago. If Fields ends up being the player many expect, then Pace will have pulled a career turnaround nobody has seen before.