If people were wondering whether a divide might be forming between GM Ryan Pace and head coach John Fox, they might be onto something. There have been whispers over the past year or so that the two don’t always see eye to eye when it comes to personnel decisions. Nobody could find any hard evidence of this though and it was dismissed. Pace of course denied such things, indicating the two were in lock step.
Apparently that’s not entirely the case. According to Chris Mortensen of ESPN, the Bears GM did not tell Fox or his coaching staff that the team would draft quarterback Mitchell Trubisky until 90 minutes before the action started. That is either taking the deception to the extreme or Pace felt there would be too much resistance from Fox. Easy to understand considering the 15-year coach had never drafted a QB in the first round before.
John Fox was in the dark
Wow. Per @mortreport, even @ChicagoBears coach John Fox didn’t know about plan to draft QB Mitchell Trubisky until a couple hours before.
— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) April 28, 2017
D.J. Durkin of The Athletic then expanded on his comments. It seems the decision to take Trubisky was made back in March in an agreement between Pace and chairman George McCaskey. Not only is this a remarkable revelation, it also signals who yields the actual power in the building.
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Mort said that Pace and George decided a month ago that they would draft Trubisky and didn't tell anyone until 1.5 hours before draft.
— dan durkin (@djdurkin) April 28, 2017
There was speculation even earlier this year that the Bears might fire Fox after leading the team through a disastrous 3-13 season. In two years the team had encountered discouraging injury problems and rumored tension between the coaching staff. Nevertheless the team elected to keep the veteran coach on.
Now things have changed. How so? By getting a quarterback of Trubisky’s caliber, the Bears have transformed. Not so much into a contender. Not yet anyway. More like into a desirable destination for a new head coach. Think about it. Nobody would’ve wanted the job if Mike Glennon was their best option at quarterback.
Now how enticing might it look with a young, gifted passer like Trubisky in the fold? Suddenly Chicago could be considered a prime destination for the top offensive minds in the NFL. This pick will either ignite Fox towards the Super Bowl push he craves, or is merely the first signal that the franchise is already planning for life after him.
What’s done is done
At this point it’s not clear how Fox feels about the situation. He could be fully on board or utterly seething. No doubt he’ll be asked the question in the near future. Regardless, at the end of the day he’s not running the franchise. The Bears have said repeatedly from the start that Ryan Pace is calling the shots. He wanted a quarterback for the future, and he got it. If Fox can’t cope with that, then the team will likely go find somebody who can.
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