Chicago Bears: Is Stephen A. Smith justified in latest rant?

As many sports-media enthusiasts know, Stephen A. Smith is not someone you go to when you want credible, fact-checked information. You go to him when you’re looking to be entertained, and in this instance, I don’t find much of what he says to hold much weight. However, whether you take what he says as gospel, Stephen A. Smith has a very strong opinion of Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy. Let’ be honest a lot of Chicago Bears fans are probably with him on it.

Smith went off about the Chicago Bears recently on ESPN’s “First Take” recently. He specifically sounded off on Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy. You can watch the full segment here.

Smith’s major gripe with Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy is the obvious error that many saw on Apr 27, 2017 — trading up and selecting Mitchell Trubisky No. 2 overall when guys like Deshaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes were still left.

"“It’s hard to fathom why Matt Nagy and Ryan Pace [are] still there; it really really is.”"

Now, this is somewhat of an exhausted narrative, but it does hold some weight. At least for Ryan Pace. Was Mitchell Trubisky a decent college prospect? Some could argue that, but when you’re going up to No. 2, there has to be confidence that the player you’re drafting is going to be someone your team is built around for years to come.

Well, Mitchell Trubisky is no longer with the Chicago Bears, and neither is the draft capital that got sent for that No. 2 pick (No. 3, 67 and 111 picks, as well as a 2018 third-round pick).

Now, thankfully they were just trading up one spot, otherwise, the amount they would have paid would’ve been even more. If Pace had given up more, he probably would not be making decisions for the Chicago Bears today. Sometimes, people forget that Matt Nagy wasn’t even around until Jan 8, 2018, so it’s a bit unfair to drag Nagy into the Trubisky terrors.

As someone who has watched Matt Nagy with his “be you” mantra on the sideline for a few seasons, I’m in agreement that Nagy should no longer be the head coach. He’s showed incompetency when being given an offense less loaded than the Kansas City Chiefs, but who knows? Maybe now that Nagy is involved with this draft class, he can give Pace the obvious help he needs in evaluating quarterback talent.

I would be ignorant to say that Pace has done all wrong, as he has made some good picks in his drafts, but striking out as big as he did with Trubisky is going to “take a generation to recover from…” 

One thing I will say is that it was not guaranteed that Patrick Mahomes was going to come out of Texas Tech and turn into the new face of the NFL. Another gripe that I personally have with people that say missing out on Mahomes, specifically, was an astronomical mistake is that who knows if he would’ve come into this Chicago Bears team and had the success he is having now.

Watching Mahomes in Super Bowl LV, to me, is a glimpse of what Mahomes would have looked like on the Bears. He has less speed around him, a worse offensive line, and an overall different offense. So, I don’t always say that missing out on Mahomes is this terrible mistake. Was it still a mistake? Yes, but I highly doubt that Mahomes is a league MVP on the Chicago Bears, given the roster at that time.

Apparently, Stephan A. Smith has forgotten about the fact that most analysts had Mitch Trubisky as the top or second-best prospect heading into the 2017 NFL Draft.

So, is Stephen A. Smith accurate in this video of knocking Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy, or do the two deserve more time to make things right in the Windy City?