Kevin Fishbain Answers Fan Questions.........

[soulman]

Happy Thanksgiving to my Bears Brothers.  Enjoy the day as best you can.

Bears GM Ryan Pace’s future? Lack of production at tight end? Mailbag plus Week 12 picks

By Kevin Fishbain Nov 24, 2021 49

It’s been a week, hasn’t it? Check that, it’s been only 72 hours.

We had Sunday’s collapse, Justin Fields’ injury, Andy Dalton returning to the starting role, a report about player frustration, then a report about Matt Nagy’s job status, and ensuing questions and confusion at Halas Hall.

The Bears found a way to squeeze a lot in a short week.

Maybe it’s good that they get to play a game so quickly and try to shift the narrative briefly, and allow the holiday weekend to quash some of the outside noise.

Or maybe it’s ripe for disaster, as maybe the Bears will be that much more unprepared for a winless Lions team.

Happy Thanksgiving, and on to this week’s mailbag and our game picks …

(Note: Submitted questions have been edited for clarity and length)

How can Bears management truly justify keeping Ryan Pace? Seven years, no playoff wins. He was ringmaster of the Nagy circus. Picked him to run the offense — last in the league. Kept him in that role, allowed him to relegate Fields to the scout team, collaborated with Nagy at every step. Not to mention he invested in Mike Glennon, Mitch Trubisky, Nick Foles, Brian Hoyer, Matt Barkley, Chase Daniel, Tyler Bray. His top investments currently are generating no ROI (except Robert Quinn). How can he be allowed to stay? — Annie P.

Any question about Pace and his future with the franchise has to begin with this — there are seven weeks to go. Anything can happen. But at this juncture, while Nagy’s fate may seem sealed, there’s a sense from league sources outside Halas Hall that Pace could return.

And it wouldn’t be unprecedented. There are three teams whose GMs are on their third head coach, and things are going well for them — Tom Telesco and the Chargers, Steve Keim and the Cardinals and Jason Licht and the Buccaneers.

It comes down to this ultimate question — does the “good” (strong drafting in the middle to late rounds, a solid young core, the decision to take Fields, if he is the “guy,” the Halas Hall renovation) outweigh the fact that the Bears have zero playoff wins in Pace’s seven seasons as general manager.

If he’s in charge of football operations, blame can be traced to him for everything that has gone wrong with the on-field product, from the hiring of Nagy to the draft picks who haven’t panned out to the salary-cap situation, one that has been hindered by throwing money at aging players to make up for prior mistakes at certain positions.

Could I see an ownership group that we know values stability (and admires Pace) find a way to keep their GM and give him a third chance to hire a head coach? Sure. So, yes, they could find a way and they’ll have their justifications, but I doubt many (any?) fans would agree based on how things have gone.

My question is, what’s the downside of firing Nagy during the season and then alternatively what’s the upside of keeping him until the season is over? I’m struggling to understand what the potential benefits are with keeping Nagy around other than a sales pitch to a new head coaching candidate that, “we never fire coaches during the season.” — Daniel B.

If the front office knows right now it’ll be entering the head coaching search, the Bears could get a head start by making a move now, and starting this season, there could be an added benefit to moving on in-season. A new rule allows teams to interview a candidate for head coach during the final two weeks of the regular season.

If you’re of the belief that being first in line, while also getting to start interviews early in 2021, will be an advantage, it’s hard to argue that any upside of keeping a coach outweighs that. But being the first to enter the coaching search doesn’t always mean that team will land the best candidate.

Even still, any good front office should always have a list of names. Theoretically, George McCaskey could have a running document that he can keep tabs on, even while Nagy is still on staff. It’s not something an owner or team president would admit to, but there’s nothing stopping him from doing his own research.

I don’t think the we-don’t-fire-coaches-midseason would be part of any sales pitch. The team simply prefers stability. McCaskey also might want to wait until the season ends out of respect for Nagy. But with what’s gone on this past week, the past three seasons and what could still occur, nothing is out of the realm of possibility at this point.

The coaching staff has emphasized the importance of tight ends yet we don’t utilize them week in and week out. How do Cole Kmet, Jimmy Graham and Jesse James not get the ball more? I feel they can take a lot of pressure off Fields when he drops back to pass. — Mike S.

This is one of the biggest indictments of Nagy’s offense since 2019. What’s odd is that in 2018, Trey Burton was quite productive. It’s easy to forget that, considering how Burton’s career with the Bears ended, but he did have 569 receiving yards and six touchdowns.

Then again, a lot worked with the ’18 offense that hasn’t been replicated.

Fortunately for the Bears, Kmet is only 22, because otherwise they’d be wasting a season from someone who I do think is a talented player by not finding a way to better use him. The Graham thing continues to confound, especially seeing how much he was used with Dalton compared with Fields against the Ravens. The 49ers game was Fields’ best from start to finish, and it was also James’ most productive game. I don’t think that’s a coincidence, so why hasn’t he been targeted more?

You’re right. A tight end can be a quarterback’s best friend, especially a rookie, and it’s supposed to be a focal point of this offense. However, when a passing game ranks as poorly as the Bears’ does, little is going to work consistently, and that includes the tight ends.

It wouldn’t surprise me at all, however, to see an uptick in production from the tight ends with Dalton in at quarterback, which to me just speaks to the struggles this staff has had with the offense when Fields is at the helm.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family! My question is, why did the Bears’ talent evaluators feel it was OK to go into the season with the cornerbacks on this roster? I cannot stand to watch Kindle Vildor and company continue to make the same mistakes, we are heading into Week 12. Have you or other media colleagues heard smaller trades were discussed to improve the cornerback room? — Michael A.

Why isn’t Artie Burns being given a shot to start at the LCB position? I’m not buying the argument that Vildor is a better choice. — Rory W.

It wasn’t a surprise to get a lot of questions about Vildor this week. To the first question, from the moment the Bears let go of Kyle Fuller — and didn’t replace him past signing Desmond Trufant — it was clear that corner would be one of the thinnest positions on the team. The same can be said about the nickel spot. The only add in the draft, Thomas Graham Jr., hasn’t shown enough to warrant a look. That can be counted as a disappointment, but he’s also a sixth-round pick.

While I never heard about potential trades, we know this front office is aggressive and I’m sure they considered ways to upgrade at corner, but they also have had a lot of confidence in Vildor from the beginning. He has had a couple of nice games this season. Overall, though, entering the season I think there was too much reliance on Vildor and Duke Shelley ascending and, combined with the scheme and pass rush, that all would be well. Injuries have struck in the front seven, and we’ve seen how things have gone in the secondary.

As far as Burns goes, he could still be an option down the line, but apparently he’s not showing enough in practice to give coaches the confidence he’d be a better option than Vildor. Maybe we’ll see a change against Detroit or down the line.

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[soulman]

I like how Kevin Fishbain handles the question about Ryan Pace's fate.  I have to think that if there is zero willingness on the part of GMcC and the McCaskey family to either replace Ted Phillips or to hire an Exec VP over Pace the answer is simple.  Pace will remain the GM.  Jerry Angelo lasted for eleven years before he was let go so Pace in all likelihood still has a few more rides left on his lift ticket.

As strong an argument as we might make for firing him and tearing it all down again that alone won't result in a tear down because Teddy Bears and GMcC will still be in charge at the very top screwing up as usual.  Simply reading through those Tweets I linked about how dysfunctional their handling of the Nagy deal has been carried out prompts the question who would they find to replace Pace?

I know some of you may believe they'd have GM prospects lined up from Michigan Ave to Lake Forest but I think you're dreaming if you actually believe that.  Some sources claim they have even reached out to Bill Polian for help as a hired consultant and were turned down. Last go 'round it was Ernie Accorsi who was their "consultant" which is how we ended up with Pace and John Fox as a pairing.

Now Polian is a guy who has to be respected as a team builder but Ernie Accorsi's track record isn't as impressive and he's also been retired since 2007 so is he a guy you want to lean on to modernize your team and your front office?  Personally I think Pace has already modernized the Bears about as much as both GMcC and Teddy Bears will allow.  In all honesty I can't be certain we could do better anyhow.

In all likelihood the best outcome I can foresee is Pace gets at least one more year to get his cap back in order and to hopefully hire the right HC and staff.  They say "3rd times a charm" so we may get lucky.  That said it's nearly impossible to believe things could be much worse than they are now anyway.  I mean I'd love to see them clean house but that would mean them as well and that ain't gonna happen.

So go ahead and focus on HC prospects in any way ya' like.  Me I have a somewhat different philosophy for the type of HC and staff we should have and it may well be the least popular approach among members here but it's very honestly based on my own personal experiences across my career which has been at least moderately successful.  I'm alive and not in prison right?  So let's see how it goes.

[Heinz D.]

On 11/25/2021 at 8:08 AM, soulman said:

In all likelihood the best outcome I can foresee is Pace gets at least one more year to get his cap back in order and to hopefully hire the right HC and staff.  They say "3rd times a charm" so we may get lucky.  That said it's nearly impossible to believe things could be much worse than they are now anyway.  I mean I'd love to see them clean house but that would mean them as well and that ain't gonna happen.

I'll still maintain that Pace should have been fired before the season, and that any reasonable franchise would have done so...but this is the Bears we're talking about. So, whatever.

All that being said, after the poop show of the 2020 off-season, Pace did things right his last go-round. Now, did he solve all the problems he had in front of him? Absolutely not--but no one could. He's rebuilding the team on the fly...and so far, he's doing quite well, IMO.

Would I rather have Rick Smith, or someone like that, instead of Pace? Absolutely. But I'm not going to freak out if they retain Pace. He's done enough good things as of late that I think there is at least hope that he's seen the error of his earlier ways. 

[soulman]

32 minutes ago, Heinz D. said:

I'll still maintain that Pace should have been fired before the season, and that any reasonable franchise would have done so...but this is the Bears we're talking about. So, whatever.

All that being said, after the poop show of the 2020 off-season, Pace did things right his last go-round. Now, did he solve all the problems he had in front of him? Absolutely not--but no one could. He's rebuilding the team on the fly...and so far, he's doing quite well, IMO.

Would I rather have Rick Smith, or someone like that, instead of Pace? Absolutely. But I'm not going to freak out if they retain Pace. He's done enough good things as of late that I think there is at least hope that he's seen the error of his earlier ways. 

Probably a good approach to take since I will be shocked if they were to fire both Pace and Nagy and set themselves up to be in the same spot they were when they hired Pace and Fox via the advice of Ernie Accorsi.  Who would they lean on this time for help with the next team to run the Bears?

[Heinz D.]

3 hours ago, soulman said:

Probably a good approach to take since I will be shocked if they were to fire both Pace and Nagy and set themselves up to be in the same spot they were when they hired Pace and Fox via the advice of Ernie Accorsi.  Who would they lean on this time for help with the next team to run the Bears?

Well, if they got Rick Smith, he could pretty much run the whole thing and still GM as well. That's absolutely what Spurious George and co. should do. They wouldn't even have to fire Teddy Bears.