Bill Polian loves the Bears Trubisky pick. That has to be a good thing right? The guy is a Hall of Fame general manager who took two different teams to a total of six Super Bowls. He knows what good football looks like, but on the field and in the front office. Few could work a draft board and find great players quite like him. There’s a reason Chicago fans nearly lost their minds when rumors hit he might join the franchise in some capacity last year.
That was never realistic. GM Ryan Pace is the man running the show. This 2017 draft proved it more than ever when he did something nobody has had the guts to do in 35 years. That was use a top five draft pick on a quarterback. It was a ground shaking decision. Another thing Polian knows about. He did it twice. Once in Carolina (Kerry Collins) and again in Indianapolis (Peyton Manning).
So if anybody could offer some perspective and opinion on the move, it was him.
Bill Polian loves the Bears Trubisky pick
Most of the time Polian remains a somewhat critical person in regards to draft picks. However, that was out the window when he spoke on the ESPN 1000 radio program “Waddle & Silvy.” Asked for his thoughts, he didn’t waste any time heaping praise on Pace and his entire operation before and during the action.
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“I thought it was a stroke of genius. The Bears kept quiet. The Browns told the world they were going to take (Myles) Garrett and trade back up for Trubisky assuming no one else would do it.
The Bears kept quiet. They talked with San Francisco, they made a deal and BOOM they took him at the very spot that Cleveland could have had they made a deal with San Francisco and assured themselves of both guys.
I thought it was just tremendous of Ryan Pace. Great move, great organizational move, great disciplines in terms of keeping things quiet and staying out of the press. A lesson for the Cleveland Browns.
Bottom line: great, great move. That’s what general managers get paid to do. That’s draft management at its best.”
There is no question that Pace executed a masterful deception campaign. Right up until the draft began all the experts were convinced of two things. Either the Bears would take a top defensive player or they would take Deshaun Watson. Needless to say the entire NFL world was caught flatfooted when they jumped up from #3 to #2 to grab Trubisky. Few can appreciate the discipline and intricacies of it like Polian.
He also understood why they did it. The young quarterback is the best at his position in the draft.
“He has the most ability of anybody that came out in the draft this year. The most natural ability. The most natural thrower. He’s a good athlete. Probably a superior athlete. He can use his feet to get out of trouble and do things in the pocket. He’s a pretty accurate thrower.
No one knows what he’s going to be other than the top prospect in this years’ draft.”
The rules have changed
Of course most of the critics keep hammering the Bears on the move. Not because of its execution, but because they don’t believe Trubisky is worth it. Why? Is it the talent? No, most are like Polian in belief that he has the total package. Where people continue to get hung up is the fact that he started just 13 games in college. That’s less than half of what Watson played at Clemson.
Not ideal to say the least. Even so, Polian dismissed it. Sure experience is important, but the reality of this modern NFL just means certain thing have to be accepted in order to get a talented quarterback. Experience being one.
“The rules have changed. You might as well exceed to it. The idea that Bill Parcells put forth, which I certainly subscribed to, that you got to have a quarterback with 30 starts and a 70% winning percentage and all that kind of stuff is long gone. Now quarterbacks are so scarce that Andy Reid traded up to the 10th pick of the draft to get a project prospect. So that’s just the way it is. Those are the rules and you have to play by them.
And so good for Ryan Pace, and George McCaskey and the Chicago Bears. Terrific job.”
There is no guarantee that Trubisky will pan out. Then again there have been plenty of more experienced quarterbacks taken that high in the draft over the years who flopped. Pace believes the Bears have the ideal environment to help this young man become the star he’s capable of being. Polian and others are saying it’s time to accept that and let the man do his job. Who knows, he may just prove he was right.
