Ryan pace

napo55

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I think he left a team with a second rate roster, a depleted draft, and dificult cap situation.. His successor will have a very tough time competing for the next couple of years.
His record does not show improvement. Firing him was a no-brainer.
 

ZenBear34

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I think the bears fucked up by firing him he has been improving every year. We will see what happens

I mean he had one winning season. This is a mediocre roster with little in the way young talent. Pace did some good things, but overall he was a failure.
 

BringBackDitka54

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I think he left a team with a second rate roster, a depleted draft, and dificult cap situation.

Genuninely curious, is the cap situation that bad? I know it was bad last off-season, but that seemed more due to the cap unexpectedly decreasing for the first time in forever because of a pandemic. Isn't the cap expected to increase as usual this year?
 

napo55

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Genuninely curious, is the cap situation that bad? I know it was bad last off-season, but that seemed more due to the cap unexpectedly decreasing for the first time in forever because of a pandemic. Isn't the cap expected to increase as usual this year?
The Bears have only 31 players signed, one of the lowest in the NFL, and are the oldest team by average age in the NFL. Also they have gaping holes at almost every position, especially DB, WR, OL, and depending on health, DL and LB. They only have two of their first four draft picks (no 1st or 4th) so will not be able to fill many of the holes in the draft.
 

Enasic

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I think Pace could end up being a very good GM. His time ran out here though. Ultimately, all GMs have their warts and issues, but you cannot miss on the QB (Mitch) and HC (Nagy). Those are the two most important hires and Pace missed on both. The results on the field bear that fruit.
 

Enasic

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The Bears have only 31 players signed, one of the lowest in the NFL, and are the oldest team by average age in the NFL. Also they have gaping holes at almost every position, especially DB, WR, OL, and depending on health, DL and LB. They only have two of their first four draft picks (no 1st or 4th) so will not be able to fill many of the holes in the draft.
They’re pretty young offensively. They’re going to need to trade down to recoup some picks and sign a lot of 1 year stop gaps with upside. My FA goal would be to sign at least 1 high impact player on the OL and 1 high impact player in the secondary. They’re not going to be able to plug all the holes in the ship at once.

Trade down, recoup picks, and draft BPA throughout. Then, it’s all about your coaching staff earning their salt and developing Fields and an offense that actually knows who it’s players are. Who knows, they could catch lightning in a bottle if things go right. Mainly, Fields being the guy and the defense returning to top 10 with Mack healthy and an improved secondary.
 

Anytime45

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What did he do that warranted remaining the GM of this team?
The upgraded steam rooms and smoothie bars are first class.

He's really nice.

Kindle Vildor made 2 open field tackles last year.

Larry Borom was good for about 15 minutes

Deeeeeerp
 

BringBackDitka54

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What did he do that warranted remaining the GM of this team?

I was fine with Pace being fired, but I'll play devil's advocate:

-There is talent on this roster, but it was wasted on a coaching staff that couldn't evaluate players. I think a good example is Thomas Graham sitting on the practice squad all year, just to play like a #2 CB the last few weeks. Would have been nice if we had that on the field in September. Another example is Breshad Perriman going to Tampa mid-season and catching a few touchdown passes right away... not saying Perriman is anything decent (he's not), but Nagy & Friends refused to even let Perriman see the field, and once he went to a better coaching staff (and a much more competitive receiving group), he started playing immediately.

- Pace's draft picks improved over time. Yes, Trubisky was bad. Don't need to dive into what a shit show that was. I do believe though that Pace was learning on the job when it came to drafting; his most recent three drafts seemed vastly different compared to his first four drafts.... 2019 gave us Montgomery (no 1sts or 2nds), 2020 gave us Kmet, Jaylon Johnson, Trevis Gipson, and Mooney (no 1sts or 3rds), and 2021 is obviously hard to gauge so quickly, but Fields, Jenkins, Borom, Herbert, Graham, and Tonga were all contributors as rookies. It would have been interesting to see Pace continue to develop as a drafter.

-Free Agency. Plenty of free agency blunders by Pace, but as long as I'm playing devil's advocate.... Akiem Hicks, Danny Trevathan, Allen Robinson, and Robert Quinn were the obvious studs brought in by Pace. There were some other free agent signings who weren't on the same level, but solid starters nonetheless: Josh Sitton, Bobby Massie, Prince Amukamara, Cordarelle Patterson, Cairo Santos.

-Lastly, I'm a big believer that successful sports franchises don't start from scratch every few years. Obviously there are exceptions where change is needed (ie, Trestman), but I think Art Rooney of the Steelers put it best; hire the smartest guy and let him stick around for 15 years. He'll figure it out eventually.
 

Anytime45

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I was fine with Pace being fired, but I'll play devil's advocate:

-There is talent on this roster, but it was wasted on a coaching staff that couldn't evaluate players. I think a good example is Thomas Graham sitting on the practice squad all year, just to play like a #2 CB the last few weeks. Would have been nice if we had that on the field in September. Another example is Breshad Perriman going to Tampa mid-season and catching a few touchdown passes right away... not saying Perriman is anything decent (he's not), but Nagy & Friends refused to evev let Perriman see the field, and once he went to a better coaching staff (and a much more competitive receiving group), he started playing immediately.

- Pace's draft picks improved over time. Yes, Trubisky was bad. Don't need to dive into what a shit show that was. I do believe though that Pace was learning on the job when it came to drafting; his most recent three drafts seemed vastly different compared to his first four drafts.... 2019 gave us Montgomery (no 1sts or 2nds), 2020 gave us Kmet, Jaylon Johnson, Trevis Gipson, and Mooney (no 1sts or 3rds), and 2021 is obviously hard to guage so quickly, but Fields, Jenkins, Borom, Herbert, Graham, and Tonga were all contributors as rookies. It would have been interesting to Pace continue to develop as a drafter.

-Free Agency. Plenty of free agency blunders by Pace, but as long as I'm playing devil's advocate.... Akiem Hicks, Danny Trevathan, Allen Robinson, and Robert Quinn were the obvious studs brought in by Pace. There were some other free agent signings who weren't on the same level, but solid starters nonetheless: Josh Sitton, Bobby Massie, Prince Amukamara, Cordarelle Patterson.

-Lastly, I'm a big believer that successful sports franchises don't start from scratch every few years. Obviously there are exceptions where change is needed (ie, Trestman), but I think Art Rooney of the Steelers put it best; hire the smartest guy and let him stick around for 15 years. He'll figure it out eventually.
 

stelz

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No way does Pace ever get a GM job again. He drafted exactly one difference maker in seven years. His next best drafts are all just guys. Hired two shit coaches. Identified/overpaid/traded away draft picks for god awful quarterbacks. Overdrafted two mediocre tight ends. And then there’s Justin Fields, who can’t be evaluated after one season due to shit coaches with their shit plan and a shit roster.

Big Voice Guy: “Nice job, Ryan Pace!”
 

hebs

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No way does Pace ever get a GM job again. He drafted exactly one difference maker in seven years. His next best drafts are all just guys. Hired two shit coaches. Identified/overpaid/traded away draft picks for god awful quarterbacks. Overdrafted two mediocre tight ends. And then there’s Justin Fields, who can’t be evaluated after one season due to shit coaches with their shit plan and a shit roster.

Big Voice Guy: “Nice job, Ryan Pace!”

Never say never. He could become an assistant GM within a couple years and in 10-15 years earn another chance.

That said, I’m looking forward to the new GM and a new direction.
 

vinson555

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What you have here is a team that was doomed to fail with the teams they had to face and the talent on it. Every year the Bears could only beat sub par teams, but most playoff contenders beat or stomped the Bears. With Nagy he had a chance to hire his coach and Nagy should ZERO signs of growth as a coach in terms of adjustments and player development on offense. I'd go as far as every player on this team is as good as they were when they were brought to the Bears. What growth they did have has little to do with the staff he had in place. I could excuse being 6 and 11 this year if I thought I saw players growing and getting better over the years.

The PPG and the defensive regression means the younger players are not getting better to replace the old. That's both on Pace for missing on them in the draft and on Nagy's staff for not getting them better. It's on Pace because he wants to trade up and have lesser picks, which means less chances to get right, which means every pick has to hit MORE not less. Some may say that the Jerry Angelo way of doing things is also not the way to go, but I always feel you go by how deep the draft is and how strong the positions of need for your team. Top tier pass rushers are always hard to find, but Running backs, Guards and safeties tend to be later picks that can work.

Pace failed, Nagy fail OP, all there is to it. Could they have learned from their mistakes if they had one more year, maybe? But talent development has been so piss poor, and is the main reason I feel the Bears need to move on.
 

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