Thursday, March 19, 2020

We Interrupt the End of the World for this Bears’ Update


COVID-19 may be rewriting the rules for human society, but it’s not getting in the way of the NFL.  Spring sports paralyzed?  Too bad.  Summer Olympics on the ropes?  So sorry (not).  Open the sports’ section or turn on the TV, and it feels just like pro football in springtime, almost.
 
Bears’ GM Ryan Pace probably wishes things were back to normal, if only to take the spotlight off of him.  Damn’ those Cubs and White Sox.  At least Opening Day would’ve provided a teeny bit of cover for the secretive Pace to go about his hyperactive business.
 
In recent days, Pace has signed two free agents, tight end Jimmy Graham and linebacker Robert Young; resigned linebacker Danny Trevathan (rather than keep equally talented and three-years-younger linebacker Nick Kwiatoski); and traded for quarterback Nick Foles.  How do you say: I’m trying to fix all the stuff I’ve screwed up?
 
Pace signed the 33-year old Graham because his previous 1000 attempts to find a tight end have all failed.  He signed Young because his former first-round draft pick Leonard Floyd was a bust.  He traded for Foles because, well, see Leonard Floyd, above, and substitute Mitch Trubisky for Floyd.  He signed Trevathan for reasons known only onto Ryan Pace.
 
A trusty rule of thumb in all pro sports is to go young whenever possible.  Not one of the players Pace procured in the past seven days for the upcoming season will be under the age of 30 come September.  That’s a good thing, how?  Spending the few precious words he speaks in public every year to proclaim his love of Trubisky only to turn around and acquire Foles says what about Pace’s honesty?  I’m thinking along the lines of “lying while standing up” might be in order here.
 
Ryan Pace is blessed with unlimited do-overs because the McCaskeys allow it.  Chicago is a city steeped in the names of famous sports’ families.  How unfair that “Halas/McCaskey” survives where “Wrigley” and “Comiskey” exist only in the past tense.  

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