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.