Rozner: Bears' Pace puts job on line for Trubisky
Ryan Pace just put himself on the clock.
No longer is Friday all about John Paxson and Gar Forman.
Nope, the GM taking the most heat for the next few months will be Pace, the Bears' boss who officially put his job on the line Thursday night.
First, he gave up three picks - including third and fourth rounders this year - to move up a single spot where the Niners had no intention of taking a quarterback, and then Pace reached way up to get North Carolina QB Mitchell Trubisky.
So lemme get this straight …
The Bears signed quarterback Mike Glennon for three years and $45 million ($18 million guaranteed).
They hugely overpaid to move up one spot in the draft to take a quarterback, and it wasn't even Deshaun Watson, the best quarterback in the draft, or DeShone Kizer or Pat Mahomes.
They took Mitch Trubisky, a quarterback who started 13 games in college.
And they gave up all those picks when they could have had Trubisky at third without so much as a sneeze.
That about sum it up?
The Trubisky pick is shocking enough, but to give up all that draft capital when everyone in the country knew the Niners were taking defensive linemen Solomon Thomas?
Wow.
Maybe the Niners bluffed Pace into thinking Cleveland was in the derby. Such things have happened before.
Either way and coming off a 3-win season - following a 6-win season - Pace needed to have a huge draft, and he had five picks in the first 120, giving him an opportunity to show how smart he is again.
Problem is, Pace is always trying to prove he's the smartest guy in the room.
He's done well in later rounds, but missing on firsts is a good way to waste money in free agency and eventually get fired.
So all of a sudden, the Bears have only four picks left in a very deep draft.
And they have so many holes to fill.
Thomas would have filled a huge hole. Jamal Adams would have filled a hole. Jonathan Allen would have filled a hole. Any of four corners or safeties would have filled a hole.
But this is the same Pace who took receiver Kevin White with his first selection in Chicago, the No. 7 pick in the draft in 2015, when the Bears had so many other very serious needs.
It was an extravagant pick given the circumstances.
His next top pick was linebacker Leonard Floyd at No. 9 a year ago, something of a reach because of his boom-or-bust grade.
Floyd has terrific talent, but there were players available with less volatility who also guaranteed the Bears a playmaker at positions on defense where they're desperate to find someone who can get to the football on time.
Maybe Floyd will be that guy, but his season ended with two concussions in a month, which he admitted was probably his own fault because he needed to learn how to tackle.
Now with the third pick, it was going to be hard for Pace to botch this one because there were too many good players available who could impact 2017.
Instead, at No. 2 he went for Trubisky, who for two years at North Carolina could not beat out Marquise Williams, a QB who went undrafted.
Trubisky was very good in his only season starting and smart enough not to go back to school in a terrible year for quarterbacks in the draft. It almost certainly would have cost him millions on top of millions if he had returned to N.C.
Even Trubisky admitted that he was surprised by how quickly he became a huge draft prospect, and after being taken by the Bears he said, "I just wanted to go as high as possible."
Smart kid. At least we know he's smart.
Some have compared Trubisky to Carson Wentz, others not so glowingly, and probably not Glennon, who is less interested in being a veteran mentor than trying to establish his own career.
Meanwhile, John Fox is interested in John Fox, and that means winning games, and if the Bears have an offensive coordinator and QBs coach known for developing quarterbacks, that will be news to the league.
So Pace, who alternates - depending on the wind direction - between saying the Bears are "this close to winning" and "there are no quick fixes," insisted he was "building through the draft," before selling his picks because he was probably scared of the Browns.
This is a GM who believes he knows something no one else knows, that he's the smartest guy in the room.
His picks have told us that repeatedly.
For his own sake, Ryan Pace better be a genius and Mitch Trubisky better be great.
Maybe he will be great and Pace will get all the credit. He will deserve it.
If not, Pace will have to sell his story somewhere else.
brozner@dailyherald.com
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