Do Chicago Bears have deadline to fire Ryan Pace?
There has been plenty of talk surrounding the Chicago Bears firing of Matt Nagy. It appears to be a foregone conclusion and the question is only a matter of when. However, for Ryan Pace, there has not been as much noise. Recently talks have picked up that his seat is getting hot, but nobody knows for sure.
However, there is a vote today that may give the Chicago Bears a deadline for when they need to decide once and for all what they do with Ryan Pace.
NFL owners will vote tomorrow to allow teams to conduct head coach and GM interviews in the last 2 weeks of the regular season. Currently these interviews are only allowed after the regular season
— Daniel Kaplan (@KaplanSportsBiz) December 14, 2021
This is a new rule that would start immediately if passed. It was reported that this would be the case for NFL coaches, but this is the first report that says GM interviews will be allowed to start early as well.
This is huge for the Chicago Bears if they are planning to move on from Ryan Pace. When it comes to a head coach, there are fair questions about the timing.
If you fire a coach too early, and the interim wins over the players, it makes it hard to move on and pick a new coach. However, if the interim is breezing by knowing he does not have a job, players can get hurt.
On the flip side, a GM of a team out of the playoffs in the final four weeks has minimal responsibility. At the least, he would not have an impact on the players’ emotions like a head coach would.
Then comes the advantage to interviewing a new GM. We do not know how many teams will be hiring, but we do know that if Chicago does, they will want a head start. If they can get interviews in during those two weeks, they could find a guy that does not even get the chance to interview elsewhere.
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This is a competitive league, and those two weeks would give them a huge step up, and help them keep their offseason on schedule.
If the Chicago Bears are going to fire Ryan Pace, there is no reason that they wait until the end of the season. The first chance they get to interview new GMs should be the deadline for when Pace will need to be fired. If he is still employed two weeks from now, the Chicago Bears are either keeping him, or they are not taking advantage of a huge opportunity.