Bear(s) Down

What’s the old saying, a fish rots from the head?  That as much as anything explains your 2019 Chicago Bears.  The only question is identifying said head.

If it’s the McCaskeys, enough said.  This is a family perfectly content to peddle lore.  Remember Halas; remember Sayers; remember Butkus.  Just don’t remember yesterday’s 36-25 loss to the injury-depleted Saints.  I figure if the Monsters lose to the Chargers next Sunday, you can count on seeing stories about the great charity work the McCaskey family does locally.

But if the head belongs to general manager Ryan Pace, you owe it to yourself to make a list of things he’s done wrong.  This is the man who hired John Fox as head coach and traded up to acquire quarterback Mitch Trubisky.  This is the man who “fixed” the ground game by trading away Jordan Howard and trading up to draft David Montgomery.  Jordan has rushed for 347 yards and 4.5 yards per carry with his new team, the Eagles.  Montgomery has rushed for 231 yards and 3.3 yards per carry as Jordan’s replacement.  The entire team has rushed for 420 yards.

Pace is also the man who replaced Fox with Matt Nagy, Coach Happy Talk, and who traded for linebacker Khalil Mack, a purported combination of Dick Butkus, Mike Singletary and Brian Urlacher, only better.  But he isn’t, and he doesn’t like to talk to reporters after losses.  That could mean Mack is done talking for the rest of the season.

Every other general manager or head of operations of a pro sports’ team in Chicago faces the music on a regular basis, but not Ryan Pace, who appears to have gone into witness protection.  Theo Epstein regularly endures the third degree from Chicago media; ditto Rick Hahn and John Paxson and Stan Bowman.  Either Pace puts on his big boy pants and does likewise, or he should step down.

Wait, maybe he has but forgot to tell anyone on the way out.