Rozner: Once again, Pace, Bears talking Super Bowl in 2020

You have to admire Ryan Pace.

No, really.

You have to appreciate that six years into his term as general manager of the Bears, he continues to talk about his team as if he has accomplished a great deal during his tenure.

The record says he has one division title and 60 minutes of playoff football, to go along with three last-place finishes and a third place at 8-8 last season. On the surface, it doesn't sound great, but Pace speaks like a man having a spectacular career.

It's impressive.

Either he knows he's got a job for life, or he truly believes it each year when he says that this will be the Super Bowl year. Hey, maybe he'll be right this time as the Bears have a very soft schedule to start the season. He's due. It's the fifth year in a row he's talking title.

But the hard sell continues, nevertheless. Sell, sell, sell the program. Sell it hard, get the fans and media on your side and stick with the same narrative, year after year after year.

Honestly, if ownership gives him an unlimited number of years, he's bound to be right eventually. Maybe this is the one.

"Every year we have championship expectations and this is no different," Pace said last week. "I really feel like we can excel this (season) because of the people that we have, the continuity that we have. So our expectations are championship expectations - and they are every year."

The advice here would be to occasionally dial that down just a hair. Maybe once every few years try something like, "We feel like we have a lot going for us. Given health and better performance from key positions, we think we can be a good football team."

Or maybe even some truth, such as, "It's hard to win without great quarterback play in the NFL and if we get that with our defense, our chances would be very good."

Bears fans would probably appreciate a small dose of reality from the general manager, but that is not the Lake Forest way.

The reality is that the NFL has never been worse than it is today with parity at an all-time high, and yet the Bears haven't been able to capitalize. The level of play is dreadful. All you need is a few good players on each side of the ball and you're a 10-win team. From there, you take your chances in the tournament.

In six years, Pace has struggled to scout and draft the requisite number of good players, beginning with Kevin White, Leonard Floyd and Mitch Trubisky - all Top 10 picks - when teams should only need a couple years to rebuild because the deck is stacked in your favor when you're terrible and drafting high each year.

Of course, you do need a quarterback for that to work and Mike Glennon and Trubisky haven't exactly torched the league.

Pace is good at signing defensive stars from other teams, or trading for them, and if Khalil Mack, Akiem Hicks and Robert Quinn are healthy and performing at their best, the Bears' defense is a nightmare for any offensive line.

"It's a passing league," Pace said, accurately summing up the NFL the last few decades. "If you hit the quarterback, your corners are better (and) your safeties are better. We've loaded up the secondary with guys that have ball skills. With a defense that can generate that kind of pass rush, that can equate to a lot of turnovers."

That would be terrific. Giving Trubisky a short field is probably the best approach, though Pace still believes in Trubisky four years into his career, while teams around the league are cutting quarterbacks and losing faith much more quickly as they self-scout and honestly assess their own players.

"I know the quarterback gets a lot of the focus, and understandably so," Pace said. "It's probably the most important position in sports.

"But I like our quarterback room right now. I love that Nick Foles is here. Obviously, we're high on Mitch, but we're fortunate to have both of those guys."

Fortune, apparently, is a relative term.

So here we go. The sixth year of Pace, the fourth year of Trubisky and the third year of Matt Nagy. There are no excuses. Pace says the Bears have all that they need to win.

If the Bears miss the playoffs again, one would think that some or all of them would pay a heavy price.

But it's the Bears. Logic does not always enter into the equation.