An inside look at the Chicago Bears and QB desperation in today’s NFL
In January, GM Ryan Pace made it clear the Bears needed a QB. Everyone's jobs were on the line. What happened next, from Watson to Wilson to Fields, says so much about today's NFL.
The season-ending press conference, in any NFL city, can resemble an interrogation. As it should. Most general managers rarely speak to the media so they’re rarely held accountable for mistakes that cost people jobs and fans thousands of dollars.
This hour is needed. This hour is revealing.
Players must answer for their mistakes every Sunday — the least GMs can do is face scrutiny once a year.
So, you better believe Chicago Bears fans wanted answers this past January. The franchise’s 100 years of existence have been mostly marred by egregious quarterback play. If you believe in curses, look no further. And what’s most painful is that this curse should’ve ended the night of April 27, 2017 when GM Ryan Pace had a shot at Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson and sold the farm for someone else. One mistake at the most important position in sports typically triggers a total reset.
Pace missed on a player who could go down as the greatest ever and was able to keep his job.
No doubt, he had some explaining to do when the Bears’ season ended with a Wild Card thud in New Orleans.
Unfortunately, he didn’t supply much of an explanation that day.
Fans were treated to word salads. Decisive, confident, cool word salads. And yet through it all, it was still abundantly clear that both Pace and head coach Matt Nagy understood the stakes this 2021 offseason. They’d need to operate in a state of desperation and find a quarterback by any means necessary.
“We definitely need more out of that position,” Pace said. “We know that. What does that entail? That’s what this whole offseason is about.
“Everything’s on the table.”
Then, the Bears quite literally tried everything.