Please Read My Letter of Apology to Ryan Pace

Dear Chicago Bears GM Ryan Pace,

It’s best to start off by saying it. I’m sorry. For what, you may ask? For doubting your awareness. Allow me to explain. Throughout the previous seven months, the offseason the Bears put together was impressive. Getting a young, innovative head coach in Matt Nagy? Retaining a great defensive coordinator in Vic Fangio? That start told me things might be different this year.

Understand that I still had nightmares from last year. The signings of Mike Glennon and Markus Wheaton. Keeping Dowell Loggains in charge of the offense. All of that gave me a somewhat minor case of football PTSD. I started to wonder if you had lost your mojo. Perhaps the pressure of winning was getting to your head.

I still held out hope though. Maybe a fresh start could snap you out of that funk. Yet as the months wore on, I got more and more annoyed. Everything about your free agency plan and your draft work was superb. Landing Allen Robinson, Taylor Gabriel and Anthony Miller? Picking Roquan Smith? These all felt like exactly right decisions.

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Something wasn’t right though, and it continued to stick in my craw. Where in the hell was the pass rush help?

“Ryan Pace can’t possibly be this blind.”

That’s what I kept telling myself. Even so, as the draft ended I took stock of the situation. Pernell McPhee, Willie Young, and Lamarr Houston were gone. That was over 30% of the Bears’ pass rush last season. In their place came Aaron Lynch with all 2.5 of his sacks the past two years, and Kylie Fitts with his sixth round status and history of health problems.

#Bears OLB Aaron Lynch (hamstring) will NOT play and now has missed entire preseason.

— Bob LeGere (@BobLeGere) August 30, 2018

Along with Sam Acho and Isaiah Irving, it felt like you were actually trying to sell me on the fact that this group along with Leonard Floyd would be enough to take on guys like Aaron Rodgers, Matthew Stafford, Russell Wilson and Tom Brady this season. It was at this point I was certain you’d made an egregious mistake. Your mad dash to improve the offense had blinded you to the most glaring weakness on the team.

Yes, I know you prefer going with the Best Player Available style but there are times of emergency where a need must take precedent. To not spend even a little more money or one slightly higher draft pick on an edge rusher? I thought that was the low moment. Then Floyd broke his hand.

Suddenly the man counted on to carry the rush this year, a man with a growing history of health issue, was injured again. All I could do was laugh. It was so fitting. Poetic justice for your glaring oversight and now this defense would have to go into Lambeau Field on opening night with their best edge rusher wearing a cast.

What I had failed to remember is you always seize on the opportunity

This wasn’t the first “crisis” you’d encountered on the roster before though. Back in 2016, I remember the difficult moment Hroniss Grasu tore his ACL. It threw the entire offensive line plan into confusion. Cody Whitehair was forced to shift to center, a position he’d never played before in his life. This left a glaring hole at left guard with mere days to go before the season opener.

Then the Packers released veteran Josh Sitton. You didn’t hesitate. You got on the phone and brought the Pro Bowler in for a meeting. Barely 24 hours after the man had been cut, he had a new three-year contract to play for the Bears. Despite a difficult season for the team, the offensive line was a strength and Sitton made another Pro Bowl.

That’s why I instantly felt a pang of regret when news hit that you’d pulled off the trade for Khalil Mack. If I’d kept my head and remembered how you operate, I would’ve known better.

You knew a special player was out there for the taking. You knew you had the resources to get him. The fact I wasn’t hearing anything about it should’ve been the tip-off that something was happening. My sense of joy was overwhelming when the word broke, but also a sense of guilt. I think Dan Pompei put it best when talking about the landmark move.

“Bears general manager Ryan Pace has been praised for his boldness and aggressiveness. Understandable. But what he has not been praised for that may be more impressive was his restraint…

…He had no way of knowing Mack would become available and this would have worked out like a dream. But he recognized that flexibility could be a greater asset than Vinny Curry or Barkevious Mingo.

Pace also didn’t reach in the draft for a pass rusher. A lot of GMs might have. He could have justified it, certainly in the second round. But Pace chose players he had higher rated.”

Now when I look at the depth chart? I can see it

I see the plan. By refusing to jump at shadows, you kept that crucial bullet in your holster. The one that might enable you to make a bold move if the right situation presented itself. Sure enough, Oakland made a 27-year old All-Pro available at the exact position you needed and once again you didn’t hesitate to pounce. Now I look over the depth chart and it’s all clear to me.

Allen Robinson – A 24-year old former Pro Bowl wide receiver
Roquan Smith – A speedy, instinctive linebacker some see as the next Ray Lewis
James Daniels – A 20-year old blocker who dominated at Iowa
Anthony Miller – A relentless young receiver many see as the next Antonio Brown
Khalil Mack – A 10-sack-a-year EDGE who joins a defense that was top 10 in 2017

For a man to do all that in one offseason? It’s the stuff books may be written about if things unfold as they could in the next few years. There is nothing left for me to criticize, Mr. Pace. You covered everything with flawless precision. No stone was left unturned. No bullet was left in the chamber. I could simply apologize again, but instead, I think I’ll borrow a quote from Ace Venture: When Nature Calls.