Chicago Bears: Relax, Ryan Pace is actually in charge

Recent reports that Chicago Bears president and CEO Ted Phillips working on finding a new head coach had fans worried, but fans can rest easy.

Last weekend, fans were up in arms even though the Chicago Bears avoided embarrassment by beating the winless Cleveland Browns. The reason for that was a report had team President and CEO Ted Phillips doing work on possible head coach replacements for soon-to-be-fired John Fox.

Many feel Phillips doesn’t know football and hold him at least partially responsible for meddling in previous hirings. Fans don’t want Phillips involved in any more hirings.

Now, however, come reports that general manager Ryan Pace is indeed in charge of the coaching hire. ESPN 1000’s David Kaplan tweeted that Pace is completely in charge. That probably means Phillips is just doing the money portion of the hire, something he definitely good at.

The fact that we had to wonder if the guy who’s supposed to be in charge of the coaching hire is actually in charge is disheartening. The McCaskeys have no football IQ yet continue to put their paws all over football operations. Maybe they’re learning? Time will tell.

There are some who blame Pace for the team’s recent struggles. After all, he’s signing all these players, right? On the other hand, I don’t think he and Fox saw eye-to-eye on what direction the Bears should take to succeed. Pace is a new-school executive who wants the franchise to enter the modern age in offense. However, Fox is an old-school coach content with a great running game and a great defense. I think if he had his way he’d abolish wide receivers.

With his hits and misses, I still think Pace is doing a good job as general manager. I wrote about how well he’s drafted in his three years (despite the high-profile failure of Kevin White). I believe he has a vision of what the team should be and deserves a chance to hire HIS coach, one who can turn his vision into a winning team.

One interesting thing to note in the tweet is the last sentence. Kaplan says the Bears head coaching job is “extremely attractive.” This is something strange to hear since many fans think otherwise. With all the losing they’ve gone through, their feelings about the team took a hit.

While some think Mitch Trubisky is still unproven, many feel he is the right choice to be the face of the franchise. Analysts and coaches around have a lot of nice things to say about him. Having a good quarterback situation is important for a head coach and many see the Bears in a good situation with their quarterback.

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So, at the start of the new year, the Chicago Bears’ coaching situation should become interesting. More interesting is how Ryan Pace does the search and who he ends up hiring.