Chicago Bears: Can Mitch Trubisky Protect Ryan Pace?
By Erik Lambert
John Fox is all but gone in 2018. There’s just no way around it at this point. His pitiful 13-33 overall record (3-14 vs. NFC North) is inexcusable.
Blame the injuries to the end of time, facts are facts. Fox promised a turnaround and a Super Bowl title. He’s delivered neither in three seasons. So it’s time to move on. The lingering question is whether GM Ryan Pace, the man who hired him, will survive to see another year. Feeling out of Halas Hall remain somewhat a mystery regarding the young executive.
There’s no denying he’s had some success assembling an intriguing roster. Jordan Howard, Cody Whitehair, Leonard Floyd, Eddie Goldman, Adam Shaheen, Tarik Cohen and Eddie Jackson make up a fascinating core to work with moving forward. However, all of that pales in comparison to the status surrounding quarterback Mitch Trubisky. He is supposed to be the future around which the roster will be built.
Pace is the man who drafted him with that in mind, but does that earn him the right to see it through?
Pace is walking a delicate tightrope between future and present
The fact of the matter is this. Pace shares the same reality as Fox. He too is just 13-33 in the past three seasons. Of course this process has included a top-to-bottom rebuild of the entire roster. It’s difficult to win quickly that way. At the same time ownerships tend to get impatient when things aren’t happening fast enough. Can even the selection of a potential franchise quarterback protect him from that?
Well the good news is it seemed to work that way for Les Snead in Los Angeles. He was permitted to conduct the search for the next head coach, eventually landing Sean McVay. Now the Rams are 10-4 and on their way to the playoffs. No doubt Pace is hoping he gets the same chance. There should be a wealth of interesting offensive minds ready for a chance to work with Trubisky.
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How these final two games go might actually determine more than people think. If they lose to the 0-14 Cleveland Browns? That is not a good look at all for Pace. Such humiliating defeats are what got Phil Emery fired back in 2015. He best hope his young players are able to bail him out.