Chicago Bears: How safe is Ryan Pace heading into 2022?
Ryan Pace has missed enough to lose the Chicago Bears GM job
When it comes to Ryan Pace, there are two huge flaws to his job here as the general manager of the Chicago Bears. The first mistake that Pace made was his decision to trade up in 2017 for Mitch Trubisky. Sitting at third overall and knowing that Trubisky, Deshaun Watson or Patrick Mahomes would have been available, there was literally no reason to trade up.
Pace should have stayed and taken Trubisky at third overall. That would not have changed much in the grand scheme, but at least he wouldn’t have thrown away draft assets. It’s also possible that maybe the Bears would have lucked into Watson (the player I wanted not knowing of his future legal troubles) or Mahomes.
The funny thing is that this was not the worst of Ryan Pace’s failures. Instead, the biggest failure that Pace had during his time as the Bears general manager is not addressing the offensive tackle positions in the right way — at least not soon enough.
Drafting Teven Jenkins and Larry Borom this year should have been the type of move Pace should have made years ago. Relying on Charles Leno and Bobby Massie without looking for potential replacements at left and/or right tackle. This is not the type of decision that you can come back from. I am on record that the lack of focus on the offensive line is why Ryan Pace should be let go.
When you look at other teams around the league and the amount of money and draft capital invested in their offensive lines, you can clearly see why this team is struggling. The team’s salary for the offensive line is ranked 29th in the league. They are struggling at keeping Justin Fields upright and this is a big reason why.
Other mistakes that have been made by Pace include drafting Kevin White, drafting Adam Shaheen, overpaying for Mike Glennon, keeping Jimmy Graham on the roster this season instead of investing that salary more wisely, not making any trades at the NFL trade deadline, etc. So, just how safe is Ryan Pace right now?