Ryan Pace doesn’t talk to the media much, but when he does he certainly doesn’t lack a way with words. The Chicago Bears GM didn’t try to hide his dissatisfaction with the way the 2016 season went for his team. He repeatedly described the 3-13 finish using the word “unacceptable.” He also wasn’t bashful in his confidence that it would not happen again moving forward.
When asked to describe what went wrong, Pace could’ve easily leaned on a number of excuses. Chief among them being the loss of 19 players to Injured Reserve, not counting the many others who missed time with various ailments. To say nothing of the two additional suspensions of Alshon Jeffery and Jerrell Freeman.
Pace however refused to hide behind that.
“I’ve been thinking about that constantly. It was a significant thing for us. I think the wrong thing to do is for me to put our heads in the sand and say, ‘Oh, man, it was bad luck. Maybe better luck next year.’ We’re not going to do that.”
Above all the question centered around what he planned to do going forward. Pace was adamant about his excitement for the coming off-season. Not only would the Bears have a healthy amount of salary cap space, but also high draft position. That means they could be aggressive in order to improve the roster.
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Nowhere more so than the quarterback position.
