RUMORS AND RYAN PACE
The thing to remember about Pace is that he is a man who loves to operate in total secrecy. That is probably why he and head coach John Fox were drawn to each other in the first place. Not only do they share philosophies of defense and toughness, but also that key military doctrine of maintaining the element of surprise. The less the media and fans know about your intentions, the less other teams will.
This goes especially for the off-season. Throughout the entire process of 2016, it was nearly impossible to gauge who the Bears were going to target. Nobody saw them going after Jerrell Freeman or Akiem Hicks in free agency until after the market went active last March. Then there is the draft. Leonard Floyd was barely a blip on the radar. Not until right before the action got started did word filter out Chicago liked him.
Up until that point it was names like Vernon Hargreaves, Sheldon Rankins and Jack Conklin who were dominating discussions. The point being? All the quarterback names being mentioned in connection to the Bears should be thrown out the window. Names like Mitch Trubisky and Jimmy Garoppolo and Deshone Kizer.
"Bears will make a strong, concerted effort to acquire Garoppolo … far and away their top offseason priority." https://t.co/Fztam5liS8
— loyalty needer (@TimBaffoe) February 3, 2017
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According to Charlie Campbell, there's rumors that the #Bears love QB Mitch Trubisky. https://t.co/MYiIDmDEWs
— Aaron Leming (@AaronLemingNFL) February 14, 2017
If Ryan Pace uses the draft to find the #Bears' franchise quarterback, DeShone Kizer should be the pick. https://t.co/jIx86pIWIK
— dan durkin (@djdurkin) February 15, 2017
First it’s important to note that these rumors are coming so early in the process. Then there’s the sources themselves. None of which hold any sort of deep ties to the Bears organization. Finally it’s the simple matter of likelihood. For example, the odds on landing Garoppolo are long both because New England might keep him and also because Cleveland can make a better offer anyway.
SQUARE BLOCKS IN ROUND HOLES
Pace himself has said that experience matters a lot to him when evaluating a quarterback. So Trubisky becomes questionable given he’s only started 13 games in college. As for Kizer, well he displays many of the same traits the Bears have already seen for the past eight years from Jay Cutler. NFL.com draft expert Lance Zierlein said so.
“Can be too reliant upon arm strength over mechanics. Wants open throwing window rather than operating with early anticipation. Can improve in leading receivers and throwing stationary targets open. Too hesitant. Gets caught in pump fake vortex at times. Quick to drop his eyes and halt progressions when pocket warms up. Inconsistent decision-maker. Showed dreadful lapses in judgement that lead to interceptions. Too willing to make off-balanced heaves.”
So if history says these early rumor targets are nothing more than smokescreens, who really is “the guy” for Pace, Fox and this team?
