Chicago Bears: How Ryan Pace turned the 2020 season into a nightmare
Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Pace has led the team to a nightmare 2020 season.
The Chicago Bears had some hope of improving upon their 8-8 record from 2019. They felt that a bounce here or there and the team could have had a better record and perhaps make a playoff run.
Despite a 5-1 start to the 2020 NFL season, there were signs that trouble was coming. While the team and its fans were happy, the national media called the team out as fraudulent. The Bears had to make some incredible comebacks against very weak teams in order to get to that record.
Soon enough, however, the Bears proved the doubters right. They are now in the midst of a huge collapse, losing six consecutive games. The offense has struggled. The defense has struggled. They suffered an embarrassing blowout and an embarrassing loss in a game in which they controlled.
Hope turned into despair and then to embarrassment. How did all this happen? Let’s take a look at how the season went wrong.
Chicago Bears offensive line is still a struggling unit
General manager Ryan Pace felt the need to tweak the roster after the 2019 season but not make major changes to it. Yes, the offensive line was bad, but it went through a number of injuries.
Guard Kyle Long ended up retiring (or pushed out if you believe him) so there was an opening for a starter. While there were a number of free agents available, Pace took a gamble by going the economical way. He signed Germain Ifedi to a contract just a tad more than the league minimum.
Ifedi was a former first-round pick of the Seattle Seahawks. He did well in his rookie season as a guard but the Seahawks moved him to tackle where he struggled. Pace hoped that a move back to guard would help.
Ifedi has been okay this season. He hasn’t hurt the team too much but he hasn’t made much of an impact. There were other players who could make a bigger impact on the line. The offensive line misses having an alpha male like Long. He was mean and nasty and said things that others wouldn’t.
In addition, Pace’s only other move along the line was to sign Jason Spriggs. He played in exactly one game before he suffered an injury. He also missed games due to COVID.
Spriggs could be a replacement for either Charles Leno Jr. or Bobby Massie at tackle. He could get a chance to fight for the job next season but it doesn’t do anything for the team in 2020.
Even after the line suffered through injuries and COVID (the Bears have used six different lineups), Pace didn’t make the necessary moves to bolster the unit. James Daniels went down for the season with a torn pectoral in Week 5, Cody Whitehair missed a couple of weeks with a knee injury, and Bobby Massie missed most of the season with a leg injury.
Despite all of that, Pace didn’t go out and help the offensive line. The moves he made before the season didn’t move the needle and when the line started to collapse he stood pat.