Chicago Bears: Worst Front Office in the NFL?

Jan 3, 2016; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Bears General Manager Ryan Pace walks on the sidelines before Chicago Bears against Detroit Lions NFL game at Soldier Field. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports /

The Chicago Bears have had an interesting offseason, to say the least, but do they have the worst front office in the league? According to CBS Sports, they do.

Coming off a 3-13 season, a worst in Chicago Bears history, the following offseason will be closely scrutinized. There’s certainly a lot of pressure on GM Ryan Pace to start to turn things around after three offseasons.

The Bears have made some unorthodox or questionable moves headlined by trading up one spot to draft Mitch Trubisky and signing free agent quarterback Mike Glennon while letting Jay Cutler exit for the broadcast booth.

If you’re to believe CBS Sports’ Sean Wagner-McGough, Pace and the Bears rank dead last in his offseason front office power rankings.

"It’s a shame, the Bears were actually having a productive offseason before their decision to trade up one spot for the right to select Mitch Trubisky. But you can’t ignore that trade. The Bears were swindled by the 49ers, essentially bidding against themselves. They also gave Mike Glennon way too much money. Nobody will care about the trade if Trubisky ends up being good, but the process matters, as our Will Brinson explained recently. And the Bears messed up the process."

I think Wagner-McGough contradicts himself by saying the Bears were having a productive offseason until the trade up for Trubisky. I think it would be fair to say that the Bears had a rough offseason all-around.

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With over $62 million in cap space, the Bears had the ninth-most space going into the offseason. Fans were excited about the possibilities of a free agent overhaul to turn around a franchise at rock bottom. But rather than going for the big splash, Pace and the Bears went for a lot of little splashes.

Heading the class of free agents was quarterback Mike Glennon. The Bears seemed to pay a high price tag for an unproven quarterback who hadn’t played meaningful snaps in a couple of years. Glennon got pushed into the passenger seat when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had a chance to draft Jameis Winston a couple of years ago.

Fast forward to 2017, when just after signing with the Bears as a free agent and being named the starter, Glennon sees the Bears draft his successor in Mitch Trubisky while he’s attending their draft party. Sucks to be you, Mike.

My biggest beef with the Bears offseason is that it doesn’t seem like there’s a cohesive plan. If you knew you wanted to draft Trubisky, why pay Glennon? Wouldn’t it have sufficed to sign Mark Sanchez and go to training camp with Sanchez, Trubisky and Connor Shaw?

To make matters worse for Pace, he seemed to take a page from the Phil Emery draft playbook; selecting D-II and non-BCS from off the beaten path while largely neglecting to bolster a questionable secondary with some impact players.

A few years from now, we may all look at this offseason as a turning point for the Bears organization. If Trubisky, Adam Shaheen and Tarik Cohen turn into the second coming of Drew Brees, Jimmy Graham and Darren Sproles, Pace will have the last laugh. But if Trubisky doesn’t pan out, Pace will be out of work and the Bears will still be in search of their franchise quarterback.

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