The Ryan Pace Mitch Trubisky connection built over time
Pace knows the score. He cut Jay Cutler. He allowed Brian Hoyer and Matt Barkley to leave in free agency. In essence he was literally rebuilding the QB position from the ground up. Mike Glennon was an expensive but key first step. It gave the team a little veteran credibility under center. That being said, it never felt like he was Pace’s guy.
The contract Glennon signed said so loud and clear. Though a three-year deal, its guaranteed money was gone after the first. It told many people that Pace still intended to finally draft his own quarterback. To get his Drew Brees. So he got to work on the 2017 draft class.
“Pace says he watched every snap Trubisky took in college, including the 2014 and 2015 seasons, when he sometimes relieved starter Marquise Williams. “Every time he got in the game,” Pace says, “something happened in a positive way.” Pace also says he saw Trubisky “play live multiple times,” though sources say the GM may have only attended the Sun Bowl and one other UNC game last season. To this, Pace joked that maybe he took in some games from the stands in disguise. The ultimate takeaway: The Bears did their due-diligence without sending up flares.”
Putting in that sort of time signals Pace viewed this decision as top priority. Fixing the quarterback position. Everything else is secondary. It’s so unexpected and so refreshing. Understand this. In 2003, Jerry Angelo traded down from the #4 pick before taking Rex Grossman at #22 overall. In 1999, Mark Hatley traded down from #7 before taking Cade McNown at #12 overall. Both were major flops.
Bucking tradition
Even the revered Jim Finks who built the mighty 1985 Bears can’t escape criticism. He gets the credit for taking Jim McMahon #5 over in 1982. What people fail to remember is Finks had been running the team since mid-1974. In other words that was his eighth draft. It took him that long to finally use a top pick on the quarterback position. In fact he hadn’t taken one above the sixth round until that point.
Subscribe to the BFR podcast and ride shotgun with Dave and Ficky as they break down Bears football like nobody else.
Bob Avellini, anybody?
Vince Evans?
It took a serious set of stones for Ryan Pace to go against a tradition that dates back decades. One that has held the Bears franchise in the icy grip of irrelevance far too often. If there is one human truth coming out of this, it’s that people resist change. Bears fans weren’t ready for Pace to dive in head first like that.
This notion that he did it blind though? That he jumped the gun out of panic? It goes against the facts. Pace was prepared in every way possible. He knew exactly what he was doing and who he was getting. It’s time to accept and, yes, embrace it.
