Rozner: Bears' GM Pace in total command now

So what did John Fox know and when did he know it?

That's what everyone wants to know these days, with the Bears becoming Chicago fans' favorite soap opera.

But the better question is, "Does it really matter?"

It certainly doesn't to Bears GM Ryan Pace, who has nuzzled up to owner George McCaskey and now has full control of the operation with permission from the owner.

Like Michael McCaskey before him, George fancies himself a football expert, and nothing ingratiates a general manager like making the owner feel important and part of the football decision-making.

Meanwhile, Fox seems to be on the outside looking in, and not long for his job, if you're to believe an ESPN report.

Pace is the architect of a 3-win team, and he did little in the 2017 NFL Draft to make fans believe he has any interest in winning games in 2017, which can't be good for the future of the head coach.

While he's being called a genius in some circles for trading up one spot to get quarterback Mitch Trubisky, the national media thinks he got played by Niners GM John Lynch, who has been generous to Pace publicly by allowing for the notion that imaginary teams were involved.

The national media doesn't buy it and says the Bears were embarrassed by a rookie GM.

Either way, the question of whether the head coach was involved in the quarterback decision only matters if Pace thinks Fox is going to be around long-term, and Pace is obviously drafting for the future now after starting his tenure by drafting for the present.

Pace is definitely of the mind that he's the smartest man in the room and knows something the rest of the league doesn't.

Maybe he is and maybe he does. Time will give us the answer.

But he took players from obscure schools and passed on so many good defensive players in the first two rounds that would have made Fox and defensive coordinator Vic Fangio so very happy.

And while Pace said everyone at Halas Hall was in on the decision and ecstatic about the Trubisky pick, ESPN's Chris Mortensen reported that Pace and McCaskey decided on the QB a month ago, and that Fox wasn't let in on the secret until just before the draft.

Said Mortensen, "They were not going to tell anybody. They weren't going to tell their coaching staff. My understanding is that John Fox, the head coach, wasn't informed until about 1 hour and 25 minutes before this pick."

After that created a firestorm, Mortensen later tweeted that Fox was involved, and Friday night Pace called the initial ESPN report, "So false."

What else could he say, that he intentionally kept the head coach out of the loop?

Pace said, "John is involved in every decision deeply. The respect I have for John is enormous."

On Wednesday, Pace sounded completely sensible when discussing the draft, saying, "When you start trying to manufacture things, or create things, that's when teams get into dangerous water.

"I think if we just stay with guys we have a consensus on, and best player available, we'll be in good shape."

And then he passed on the best player available numerous times and repeatedly manufactured something.

So while the rest of the league and the national media is laughing at the Bears' draft - there were many tweets of the like this weekend - Pace obviously believes in his players and doesn't care that his unconventional wisdom is being questioned.

There have been other GMs in town over the decades who thought precisely that, and most of them didn't last very long in Chicago.

If Pace is wrong, he won't have a long career here.

But if he is right, he will be celebrated for decades as the man who brought a Super Bowl back to Chicago and did it in the face of much criticism.

In the meantime, he's got the owner in his pocket and that's a great way to keep your job, especially considering it will be years before anyone can judge Trubisky.

As for whether Pace made this pick with the approval of the head coach, it doesn't really matter.

It's now Ryan Pace's team for as long as he's here.

For better or worse.

brozner@dailyherald.com

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