The Ups and Downs of General Manager Ryan Pace

Pace did some cleanup to the roster after arriving in Chicago and kept on doing that cleanup over the last three years. Some of what he has done has come back to bite him but most of the moves make sense. He was able to get a draft pick for a player they struggled with in Martellus Bennett. Granted, they could have problem gotten more. The same can be said for Brandon Marshall. Pace traded him away and rid the team of a player that had been causing some problems in the locker room since he came to Chicago.

There were a few players that Pace allowed to walk that left us scratching our heads at first but may have been good moves in the long run. Matt Forte was a hard player to let leave. He was still productive when he was in his final year with the Bears but they allowed him to move on. In the last two seasons, he has been with the Jets; Forte has been injured but moderately productive. The Bears put Jordan Howard in Forte’s place and all he did was rush for over 1,000 yards and make the Pro Bowl in his rookie season.

That seemed to work out well for the Bears.

Of course, the biggest name on the list of players who were allowed to walk is Jay Cutler. Pace inherited Cutler as well as his monster contract and it wasn’t paying dividends for the Bears. By not bringing him back and signing Mike Glennon while drafting Mitchell Trubisky the Bears waved goodbye to a thorn in their side. He eventually retired but came back to play for the Dolphins. The Bears were wise to part ways with him and start over fresh.

But the starting over has been a little rough.

One bit of roster cleanup that might have backfired on Pace was letting Robbie Gould go. They say that he was let go for money reasons as the Bears needed money to bring in some free agents. However, the move set the Bears back in the kicking game. Gould’s successor, Connor Barth, was nowhere near as good as Gould was or continues to be. And we saw Gould was able to do against the Bears a couple of weeks ago. He still has a lot left in him and was better than what the Bears were able to put on the field since he was cut. Pace should regret his decision to cut Gould especially after he beat the Bears with five field goals.

Another regrettable move that Pace may still be thinking about is letting Alshon Jeffery walk in free agency. The Bears really could have used a solid veteran like him to help Trubisky grow. It was all about money with Jeffery and the Bears didn’t want to sign him to a big deal to keep him. However, if they would have given up some money to have him stay and help Trubisky develop, they would have been better in the long run at least for this season.

But hindsight is 20/20.