Chicago Bears: Ryan Pace Doing What Phil Emery Failed To

Chicago Bears GM Ryan Pace is under fire for some recent roster decisions, but there is a particular reasoning behind them.

A lot of people are questioning some of the roster decisions Pace has made over the past few weeks.  Most notably the recent release of veteran left guard Matt Slauson.  He was viewed as a locker room leader and one of the best players on their offensive line in 2015.  It didn’t make much sense to get rid of him.

Unless of course one understands the method behind the madness.  The simple fact is Slauson wasn’t a Pace guy.  He was a holdover from the Phil Emery era, pushing into his 30s and didn’t fit the vision of what Pace was trying to build.

It might sound misguided and a little convoluted but in reality it’s the right decision.  Pace is doing what many good but unsuccessful general managers failed to do in the past.  He’s working as fast as possible to build a roster filled with his own players on it, something his predecessor Emery failed to accomplish quickly enough.  What does that mean?

Here is a breakdown.

Emery maintained the status quo in 2012 mostly because he had no choice.  The Bears ownership made it a stipulation that he had to keep head coach Lovie Smith for at least one year and then could operate how he saw fit from there.  They went 10-6 together but missed the playoffs.  It was then Emery chose to make a change, hoping to find an offensive coach that could help fix Jay Cutler.

Replacing Smith wasn’t his biggest mistake.  His biggest mistake was not replacing Smith and any of the older veteran players who were clearly loyal to him.  Yes, he did dismiss Brian Urlacher, in a very messy and public fashion, but at the same time men like Lance Briggs, Charles Tillman and Devin Hester were left behind, quietly sewing dissension in the ranks with their unwillingness to accept Marc Trestman as anywhere close to what Smith was.

Emery failed to understand his job at that point was to load up the roster with young players who would respond to Trestman’s coaching style.  As a result things deteriorated.  The locker room became divided and things spun out of control from a team that went 10-6 to 5-11 in a three-season span.  Both Trestman and Emery were fired by the end.

There in lay the difference between he and Pace.  From the very beginning Pace set out to build his team.  Just look at one of the first major moves he made by trading Brandon Marshall.  While a big part of it was money and also the fact he was a distraction, few didn’t bother to note that Marshall had a certain loyalty to Emery, the man who traded to get him out of Miami and give him new life in Chicago.

That was a potential divide Pace was not going to deal with.  Anybody with strong ties to the prior regime was carefully and quietly shown the door whenever the situation became advantageous to do so.

Marshall?  Traded.

Jay Ratliff?  Released.

Tim Jennings?  Released.

Jared Allen?  Traded.

Martellus Bennett?  Traded.

Matt Slauson?  Released.

All have the same things in common.  They were older and they were acquired by a different GM with a different plan.  Pace doesn’t want other players who failed to win for somebody else.  He wants his guys that fit his vision for what the Chicago Bears can become.  The turnover can appear somewhat puzzling and ruthless at times, but there is a logical calculation to it.

Since he took over last year, just 20 players remain from the roster that started the 2014 season, Emery’s last.  That means Pace has overturned over 62.2%  of the depth chart.  By comparison, when Emery started his second season he still had 23 players left from Jerry Angelo’s last season in charge in 2011.  That’s a rate of 56.6%.  Might not seem like a big difference until one realizes just nine of the new 30 additions were via the draft.  As of now Pace has 14.

It’s just another indication of how much Ryan Pace values team chemistry above almost anything else.  Judging him before the painting is finish is pointless.  Perhaps it’s better to sit back and let him apply the final brush strokes first.