Some people may still try to play it off that Ryan Pace may still survive. It’s time to accept reality. His time as Chicago Bears GM is coming to an end. This team is not winning four-straight games to reach 9-7 and maybe make the playoffs. The best they’ll manage is 8-8 and even that his farfetched. It is clearer than ever this is a flawed roster that got old really fast. Thanks in large part to the win-now moves Pace made.
Everyone knows though that his time is over because of one decision. That being to draft Mitch Trubisky in 2017. There was nothing wrong with the idea. Pace absolutely had every reason to draft a quarterback there. Sadly, he whiffed. Patrick Mahomes went to Kansas City and became a superstar. Deshaun Watson went to Houston and became a superstar. Trubisky has become a bust. That is a stink the GM will never wash off.
To say nothing of his failure to produce a winning record in five of six seasons. Again, barring a miracle over the next four weeks. He had plenty of time to build this thing into a winner. He failed. Now George McCaskey has to seek a new option. Yet that presents a problem in and of itself.
Thus far his track record with GMs is, shall we say, suspect.
He took over as team chairman in 2011. His first major act came a year later when he fired Jerry Angelo and replaced him with Chiefs college scouting director Phil Emery. Everybody knows how that went. Three years later, he tried again with Pace. Again, it didn’t work. He’s 0-2 so far. So maybe it might be time to consider a different strategy.
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McCaskey tried seeking help from the outside in both previous GM searches without success. Perhaps the time is right to think about promoting from within. Some people may not like that idea, but there is a sound argument to made for it. Former Eagles team president Joe Banner had a fascinating explanation for why evaluating personnel people for jobs is significantly more challenging than coaches.
“The problem is, as we mentioned earlier, it’s really hard to judge personnel guys from the outside. You have to put together a pool (of candidates). Which means you have to have some really good contacts of names to interview. And you have a situation where the interview is massively more important than it is with a head coach.
With respect to personnel people, it’s really hard. I mean, most of the teams in the league are not even grading their own personnel people on a two- or three-year look-back. So they only have an impression of their own people as opposed to, this guy here is hitting on 68% of his recommendations and this guy over here is hitting on 46%. And who’s really learned the cap, and who understands the strategy, and who can help me in a coaching search if I was looking for a new coach? So this is a much, much harder position to fill and find capable candidates.”
This Chicago Bears ownership may be better staying close to home
Remember what McCaskey has said. He’s a fan. Yes, he owns the Bears but he has no background working in the NFL or even playing the game. He doesn’t have any established connections around the league. His knowledge of what to look for in a quality GM is minimal at best. So it’s fair to wonder if going with people he already knows inside Halas Hall is a better plan than venturing into the unknown for the third time.
It isn’t like the team is totally devoid of qualified candidates:
Champ Kelly (Assistant director of player personnel)
He’s been somewhat of a secret weapon for the Chicago Bears since Pace brought him over from Denver in 2015. He started out as their director of pro scouting and with his help, they secured Akiem Hicks and Danny Trevathan in 2016. Easily two of the best free agent signings of the past decade. His reputation has steadily grown in league circles. The New York Jets wanted to interview him for their GM spot last year and now the Atlanta Falcons have interest this year. The man is well-respected.
Mark Sadowski (Director of college scouting)
A man who is born and bred in Chicago. He grew up a Bears fan and got his first break in the NFL working for Mike Ditka in New Orleans. The Bears hired him as a scout in 2005 and he’s climbed the ladder into their front office ever since. Devin Hester, Greg Olsen, Eddie Jackson, Tarik Cohen, and Bilal Nichols are all names he had a primary hand in getting drafted. He has a reputation for being a problem-solver with a tireless work ethic. Most feel the Bears GM job would be a dream come true for him.
Sam Summerville (Southeast area scout)
Anybody who has followed the Bears closely for the past several years has probably heard Summerville’s name mentioned once or twice. He holds probably the most important job of any scout in the organization. The southeastern region. This tends to be where the highest concentration of future NFL talent is found. So the scout better be good at what he does. Summerville hasn’t disappointed. Among the list of names he helped get to Chicago include Kyle Fuller, Eddie Goldman, Eddie Jackson, Tarik Cohen, Roquan Smith, and Darnell Mooney.
So the Chicago Bears do have some noteworthy candidates McCaskey can choose from. His evaluation would be that much easier if they all kept notes on their previous scouting reports. This way he could get an accurate picture of who was right most often. Something he’s unlikely to get from outside candidates.
