Chicago Bears: Hot takes on Justin Fields, Ryan Pace, and more

Hot take: Ryan Pace should be fired regardless of how good Justin Fields is

Should Ryan Pace be fired regardless of how good Justin Fields ends up being?

Although Pace and Nagy’s situations are not identical, fans have developed similar frustrations with the two of them. Chicago opted to give Pace another year, but Pace is still has a lot riding on this season. The question comes down if PPace’srecent moves that have been praised make up for some of the inexcusable mistakes he’s made.

Ryan Pace’s tenure has been overshadowed by his draft record

One thing that PPacehas been unable to escape is his poor draft record. All general managers have some misses, but it’s about making sure you have enough good picks to outweigh the bad, and as of right now, I don’t think you can argue PPacehas done that. Pace has selected Kevin White, Leonard Floyd, Mitchell Trubisky, Roquan Smith, and Justin Fields in the first round. Even if Fields ends up being good, that’s hitting on 40% of your first-round picks. This looks even worse when you remember four of these five selections were in the top ten.

Some fans may point to the fact that PPacehas made some solid mid to late draft selections, but selecting Eddie Jackson in the fourth round or Darnell Mooney in the fifth doesn’t make up for completely whiffing on first and second-round picks. The early stages of the draft are the most important rounds to pick because those players have the best chance of being franchise players, and PPacehasn’t been able to do that with any consistency.

Bottom line: Pace deserves credit if he finally gets the quarterback position right, but I don’t know if that should automatically save his job. He’s made several bad selections in the early rounds and using the success of one player to overlook that can be a very dangerous game.