Bears GM Struggling Strategically Again

There's a great symmetry to it all.

It's no secret Bears general manager Ryan Pace has been behind strategically at times when it comes to acquiring players.

The greatest example came in the 2017 draft when he wanted Mitchell Trubisky so badly over Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson that he needlessly threw away draft picks to move up and get him as San Francisco GM John Lynch kept snapping his fingers, demanding more for the trade.

It may have happened again this weekend and ultimately most Bears fans would probably not care.

It matters, though.

ESPN's Adam Schefter reported the Bears would let Mitchell Trubisky leave in free agency, something assumed for a few months in Chicago while they pursued other players.

The Bears hadn't said as much, though, and when this report came out they immediately sent counter intelligence to Pro Football Talk denying the ESPN report, which everyone has known for weeks is true anyway.

Once again it shows how the Bears cannot position themselves properly in a strategic personnel battle.

They did a nice job of keeping everything under wraps with Carson Wentz. Nothing leaked out from their end despite Howie Roseman's antics. After the Bears found out the Colts would give a second and a third, the Eagles never did coax a first-round pick out of them for a player with big questions attached.

The Trubisky situation is damaging because the Bears have an obvious interest in Russell Wilson but if they fail there are other potential players to pursue who could require a trade, like Sam Darnold and Marcus Mariota. There are free agents to negotiate with whose agents can be bolder if they know the Bears have no fallback.

It would be good for strategic advantages for opponents to think they at least had Trubisky in their hip pocket as the fallback, and that Pace isn't so desperate he can be led around by his nose into a bad trade.

Already there is evidence of this occurring with the Wilson situation. Without Trubisky at least as a fallback, the Bears look so entirely desperate.

The Tribune's Brad Biggs quoted an unnamed GM in a story about the Wilson situation saying of Pace, "They're desperate, and if I'm Seattle, I just keep asking for more and more and more."

The Seahawks can keep upping demands and other teams with their quarterbacks can feel free to do the same.

Sure, Pace's blind faith in Trubisky was always deemed a bad mistake, but at least when he had this he stood for someone.

Now, the Bears are hanging there without fallback beyond other free agents who they need to outbid someone to get, all the while lacking much cash, or players as trade material. Only inflated prices can meet the Bears because other teams know their GM is so desperate.

The desperation is elevated by team ownership's edict in January that they need to win a playoff game.

The symmetry to all of this is Pace made a bad strategic mistake by bidding against himself when Trubisky came to the Bears. Now, with Trubisky leaving, another bad mistake was made in the way word was allowed to get out that they've given up their other option in this personnel war.

About the only way Pace comes out of this saving face is by actually completing a trade for Wilson. At least with a proven talent like Wilson, giving up too much for a 33-year-old quarterback will appease Bears fans who have been clamoring for weeks for this deal to be made.

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