Absent of valuing his head coach’s opinion, Ryan Pace should’ve just fired John Fox after the 2016 season.
Maybe then he could’ve hired a coach whose insight actually mattered to him when it came to evaluating 2017's NFL Draft class of quarterbacks.
And maybe then those inside Halas Hall wouldn’t be "living with the consequences" of drafting Mitch Trubisky instead of Deshaun Watson, whose Texans come to Soldier Field on Sunday.
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The Chicago Tribune’s Dan Wiederer did a fantastic job laying out the disconnect between Pace’s front office and Fox’s coaching staff in the months leading up to the 2017 NFL Draft in this well-reported piece. Indeed, I’ve heard for years that Fox thought highly of Watson. My old friend John “Moon” Mullin and I had an inkling the Bears were going to take a quarterback on the eve of the draft – receipt here – and, based on what we believed at the time, it was going to be Watson.
Pace kept Fox and his coaching staff in the dark. Maybe Fox communicated to his general manager that he preferred Watson. If he did, Pace didn’t care. His mind was made up not only that he needed to have Trubisky – but that he’d seen enough of Watson and didn’t need to further scout him.
Even though, again, his head coach preferred the quarterback from Clemson.
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Maybe if Pace had listened – actually listened – to Fox he would’ve been more thorough in scouting Watson. And maybe he would’ve unearthed a trait or two – you know, the ones that’ve made him a perennial Pro Bowler – that would’ve led him to draft Watson.
But what if Pace had just went to Ted Phillips and George McCaskey after the 2016 season and said, hey, John’s ideology just doesn’t mesh with mine. He never was my guy anyway – he sort of fell into my lap with a push from Ernie Accorsi. I know it’s going to cost us money to buy him out, but I’m thinking strongly about taking a swing at quarterback with the highest draft pick we've had in decades, and I want a coach whose evaluation and insight I trust to move forward in this process.
In short: I think I can finally fix this franchise’s quarterback problem, but I’d like a coach who I can fix it with – not fix it in spite of.
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Who knows? Maybe Pace hires Sean McVay or Kyle Shanahan, both of whom became head coaches early in 2017.
Of course, Pace could’ve got that hire wrong – there was a rumor in December of 2016 that ex-Lions OC Jim Bob Cooter might’ve been of interest to the Bears. Anthony Lynn – who seems likely to be fired by the Chargers at the end of this season – was another strong head coaching candidate four years ago.
But whoever it might’ve been – generational coaching talent or not – maybe Pace would’ve valued their input. Maybe he would’ve actually listened.
That doesn’t necessarily mean the Bears wouldn’t have still drafted Trubisky. There was not a consensus No. 1 quarterback in the class of 2017, hard as it is to fathom now.
At the least, though, a more thorough process – one in which the head coach’s input was valued – might’ve prevented embarrassing news cycles like the one this created:
And the one the Bears are going through, yet again, this week.