Pace: ‘We have a plan in place’ … and now we wait
Bears general manager Ryan Pace met with the media on Tuesday to discuss a variety of topics on the offseason agenda. Chief among them is what the team intends to do at the quarterback position.
“We have a plan in place,” Pace said in regards to the most important position in sports. “And now it’s about executing that plan.”
What exactly is that plan? That’s for them to know and for us to find out in due time.
The great Tom Petty famously sang, “the waiting is the hardest part.” That is the feeling I’m sure many Bears fans must be holding right now.
Nearly every trade rumor that has been floated this offseason regarding the quarterback position has included the Bears. The vast majority of mock drafts that have come out have the Bears trading up in the first round or selecting a quarterback at Pick 20.
There’s no bull spit about it: the football universe knows the Bears must address the quarterback position this offseason, and it must be done in an aggressive fashion.
It is precisely for this reason I don’t expect the Bears to enter the 2021 season with Nick Foles as their starter and a mid-round project as the backup.
But it’s also the reason I don’t expect the “plan” to include signing someone like veteran Alex Smith, who spent time in Kansas City with Matt Nagy. Nor do I expect the Bears to bring back Mitch Trubisky for both performance reasons and PR logistics.
I think it was former Bears head coach Dave Wannstedt who said, “Can you imagine the short leash that fans would have with either Trubisky or Foles?” Assuming fans are allowed back in stadiums in 2021, the boos would be deafening the first time an interception is thrown.
No, the Bears have to take a big cut and swing for the fences. They can’t play small ball. Pace and Nagy both know their own respective leashes are short. George McCaskey knows the fans are restless and — yes, this is morbid — his own dear mother isn’t exactly getting younger.
Can I boldly predict that a great quarterback like Deshaun Watson or Russell Wilson will be donning the navy and burnt orange next season? No, I really can’t. Mostly because I don’t think either quarterback will be traded unless Watson makes good on his threat to hold out and sit out.
But the Bears at least have to have those two guys, plus others, on their minds. They have to dig deep into their pockets and cough up the necessary resources to make something happen. The laws of supply and demand are sound. If supply is low — as the quarterback position clearly is — the demand will be high and prices will increase. But, you just don’t win in the NFL without good quarterback play. It’s a fact of life, as consistent as gravity.
Although I can’t be certain about it — and I wouldn’t put money on it — I’m fairly confident that the Bears will do something aggressive at the position and we will see a new signal caller under center in 2021.
Until then, we just have to sit back and wait. And yes, Tom Petty, the waiting is most definitely the hardest part.