Ryan Pace Proud of How Mitchell Trubisky Persevered

It wasn't a victory lap, but Ryan Pace definitely felt some pride in how his 2017 first-round draft pick persevered.

The one person with the most to gain or lose in Halas Hall by Matt Nagy's decision on a quarterback came away feeling Mitchell Trubisky had stepped to another level when competition with Nick Foles ended. That person would be Pace.

Pace said during a conference call Monday that he could only admire how Trubisky dealt with adversity and kept fighting through to win the starting job

"If you put yourself in his shoes and the offseason that he had, coming off last season where—there was a lot of blame to go around last year, we could've been better in a lot of areas," Pace said. "Of course, being the quarterback, he takes the brunt of a lot of that. Then we trade for a quarterback and then we don’t exercise the fifth-year option and all these things happen.

"And the moment camp started, the moment he walked in the building, you just felt a different presence and a different mindset, and that carried him throughout camp. Just proud of the way he’s conducted himself."

Pace, of course, traded up one spot to get Trubisky in a controversial 2017 draft-day move. So it's easy to connect the dots from Trubisky's success this year to Pace's future in Chicago. Yet, he insisted he stayed an interested, objective party in the process.

"It was easy for me to watch this unfold because all I wanted is what was best for the team," Pace said. "Ultimately all that matters is that we win football games. That's all that matters. So what quarterback gives us the best chance to win football games? And everybody had a voice. Everybody had an opinion.

"But at the end of the day Matt need to go with his gut, with his heart, with his instincts and just let that whole thing play out naturally."

Although the quarterback decision was Nagy's, although Pace definitely participate in the process.

"But specifically with the quarterback, Matt and I discussed it constantly," Pace said. "We shared each other's thoughts. I would listen. I would be a sounding board.

"But this is strictly his decision. I think with Matt, kind of like how we do the draft, it's very collaborative. You take a lot of opinions. But at the end of the day, it's his call and he made that call."

The fact Trubisky won the competition over a Super Bowl MVP didn't necessarily surprise Pace as he watched what he said was a well-planned attempt by coaches to test both quarterbacks without benefit of preseason games.

"I guess there's just a feel of confidence and comfort," Pace said of Trubisky. "I think it comes in Year 3 in this offense. I think competition brings the best out of everybody, and I think this competition brought the best out of him."

After an abbreviated training camp and no preseason, Pace sees a team ready to move forward now, especially the starting quarterback.

"I think, overall, his decision-making, we felt like that's improving," Pace said. "And just as he builds, you feel his command and comfort level in the offense. That's real. Obviously we've added a lot of pieces around him that I think are gonna benefit when you talk about what we've done at tight end and receiver and in the run game."

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven