Bear Digest

Time for Ryan Poles to become Ryan Pace after Khalil Mack signing

The Bears obviously had interest in Khalil Mack but one thing Ryan Pace used to say about free agency now has to be the route Ryan Poles takes after the former Bear stayed in L.A.
Gene Chamberlain|
Khalil Mack signs a jersey for a fan during his first run with the Bears. Fans will treat him the same away but his role changes a bit this time.
Khalil Mack signs a jersey for a fan during his first run with the Bears. Fans will treat him the same away but his role changes a bit this time. | Raj Mehta-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

You can't go home again.

Or at least the Chargers wouldn't let Khalil Mack do it, so they paid him $18 million to stay. It's safe to wonder if he ever really would have wanted to return to Chicago.

Once Joey Bosa got shown the door, the Chargers' goal of keeping their other pass rusher became obvious. It was always going to be a problem for the Bears because the Chargers had almost twice as much cap space available as the Bears after Bosa's cash was off the books.

TOP OPTION EMERGES FOR BEARS AT DEFENSIVE TACKLE IN FREE AGENCY

It's free agency and money talks. Videos wistfully recalling sacks from an earlier Bears era don't mean as much as the green. It was obvious from that video released last week that the Bears wanted Mack back. Want doesn't get.

Technically, the Bears weren't being outbid for Mack.

They couldn't actually negotiate yet. But the Chargers could because Mack was still their player, free agency hadn't officially begun and Mack's agent had a price in mind to keep his client at his actual home instead of some place in the cold midwest.

They reached agreeement before the Bears could move in and sweeten anything or make an official offer.

The Chargers retaining Mack one hour before the start of free agency only tested whether Ryan Poles could become Ryan Pace.

This isn't a reference to signing people like Dion Sims, Markus Wheaton and Mike Glennon. Rather, it's something Pace used to say about free agency. Pace always maintained you have to be able to pivot quickly once teams started negotiating in free agency.

He just didn't pivot very well himself.

Face it, if you have the choice of staying in Los Angeles, where your home is, the side of the country where your career started, and with an experienced head coach who has a history of success no matter where he's at, and you have an 0-5 record in postseason, you're staying on the left coast. Going to a new head coach with a new team is only a threat to raise your offer from your current team.

The Bears weren't played. The Chargers were, and the Bears were just being used to do it.

Why go to a team that was 3-14 in 2022, 7-10 in 2023 and 5-12 last season after they discarded you?

So Mack is not back, at least in Chicago

It means the Bears have to pivot to find pass rush help elsewhere. It's also likely to be very expensive now with another major player removed from the marketplace.

There's something else Ryan Pace always said and that's how you're paying through the nose for players in free agency who are usually flawed and it's only going to get even more expensive.

Put away the videos and think now about the Bears paying through the nose for the best available pass rusher as they pivot.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.