A few months ago ESPN insider Chris Mortensen added a bombshell to the NFL draft drama. It came right after the Chicago Bears had drafted quarterback Mitch Trubisky #2 overall. It said that head coach John Fox actually had no idea he would be the pick until shortly before it happened on draft night. This set off loads of speculative conversations, wondering if there was a divide between him and GM Ryan Pace.
Over time the buzz on that cooled. Fox insisted he was involved in the process and Pace insisted he kept his coach in the loop on everything. Though Mortensen has long been a trustworthy source for inside NFL information, he may have merely not known the full scope of what actually happened.
Well that seems to have finally come to pass. New information has come to light regarding what happened and it backs up with he first reported back in April.
Ryan Pace didn’t trust Fox to not betray Bears interest in Trubisky
According to Rich Campbell of the Chicago Tribune, Pace did indeed keep Fox in the dark about his plans. The reasoning? His interest in Trubisky was extensive and had been for months. He didn’t want anybody outside the front office to know about it. Not even the head coach.
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“The demarcation line was drawn in April. Pace’s infatuation with Trubisky and obsession with keeping it secret left Fox lagging behind the GM’s plan.
Although Fox was involved with researching Trubisky, Pace concealed the extent to which he coveted the quarterback. The GM and his lieutenants were determined not to let Fox, with his penchant for chatter and an extensive league-wide network of pals, expose their plan. In their estimation, their futures depended on total secrecy.
So as Fox entered this season, the critical penultimate year of his four-year contract, Pace aggressively moved to draft Trubisky, who he did not intend to play as a rookie.”
In other words Pace understood Fox’s outgoing nature and wasn’t comfortable with entrusting sensitive information to him. So in a word both stories had truth to it. Mortensen was correct in that Fox didn’t know, but Fox also wasn’t lying when he said he was involved in the evaluation of Trubisky.
All told this is a somewhat unusual situation. One can understand Pace’s precaution and it doesn’t necessarily mean he lacks faith in Fox. At the same time a GM intentionally keeping his coach in the dark on something? It’s hard not to see that as troubling.
