Imrem: Chicago Bears GM should have no regrets
Ryan Pace should have no regrets regardless of how his wild and crazy Mitch Trubisky caper turns out.
None whatsoever.
Chicago Bears fans have mumbled for decades that they don't have a franchise quarterback and now are grumbling about Pace going to unconventional extremes to acquire one.
These same fans must complain about how cloudy it has been and then boo the sun when it tries to peek out.
You'd think Trubisky has a third foot where his throwing hand should be and a rear end where his helmet should go.
Shouldn't Trubisky be the one protesting, considering Chicago is where quarterbacks come to die?
Mitch Trubisky could become one of the biggest draft busts in the history of a franchise filled with big draft busts.
But it's not like Pace picked a QB from Ashland, Kutztown or North Carolina A&T. He saved those schools for other positions later in the weekend.
Personally, I can't imagine criticizing any Bears general manager for making a bold move for a potential quarterback of the future.
In 2009, Jerry Angelo traded a gaggle of draft choices to Denver for Jay Cutler, who became the Bears' QB for eight annoying seasons before being released this off-season.
Nice try.
Cutler was a shot that Angelo had to take for a team that hadn't had a great quarterback since the 1940s.
Now it's Ryan Pace taking his shot, well-aimed or aimlessly.
Good for him, though Bears fans do have myriad reasons to be skeptical.
Pace appears to be trying too hard to be the smartest guy in the room. … He surrendered precious picks for Trubisky like Angelo did for Cutler. … He already had signed veteran Mike Glennon to be the 2017 starter.
Trubisky mostly sat at North Carolina for two seasons. … He started just 13 college games after that. … He might not even be the best of a mediocre quarterback class.
Yes, this Trubisky-Pace combination might implode all over Halas Hall. The former could eventually cost the latter his job the way Cutler eventually cost Angelo his.
What could go wrong? Well, Trubisky could be Cade McNown, or fellow draftees Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson could win Super Bowls while Trubisky flames out, or all three could be out of the NFL sooner than later.
No regrets anyway.
Over the weekend a FiveThirtyEight.com headline read, "The Browns Need A Great QB, Which is Why They Didn't Draft One."
Benjamin Morris' point was, "I see this type of argument made a lot: A team that needs a QB needs to take a QB. But it isn't quite that simple. Quarterbacks are almost always high-risk prospects, and investing in a bad quarterback can kill a franchise just as easily as not having one."
Trubisky might become more bad than great. Some scouts preferred Mahomes, whom the Chiefs traded up to get, or Watson, whom the Texans traded up to get.
The New Orleans Times-Picayune quoted Saints GM Mickey Loomis as saying that Mahomes was the only quarterback he would have been tempted to take in Round 1.
No wonder Trubisky, picked at No. 2 overall, isn't considered any more of a certainty here than Cutler was.
But no regrets.
If Mitch Trubisky doesn't work out, the Bears can assess the damage, fire Pace and let the next GM shoot his shot at a quarterback of the future.
mimrem@dailyherald.com