Mitchell Trubisky would be the Bears' starting quarterback in 2020 -- or so Pace said.
"We believe in Mitch, and we believe in the progress that he's going to continue to make," Pace said in the Bears' seasoning-end press conference on Dec. 31.
Will that prove to be true when the Bears take the field for their regular-season opener next fall? That's a key question looming over the Bears' offseason.
With the Super Bowl behind us and teams' attention turning fully to 2020, we start our Bears positional breakdowns with Trubisky and the quarterback spot.
The second overall pick in the 2017 draft, Trubisky will enter the fourth and final season of his rookie contract. In the coming months, the Bears must decide on the fifth-year option for Trubisky -- or perhaps look to keep him on a team-friendly extension instead.
The Bears are likely to disband the support system of veteran quarterbacks behind Trubisky and instead bring in a competitor at the position.
A year ago, the Bears had reason to believe Trubisky was set to make a major jump. The 2019 season would mark his third year in the NFL and second under the watch of coach Matt Nagy. It seemed the pieces were in place for significant progress.
Instead, Trubisky regressed significantly in 2019, and the Bears have been left to contemplate their future at quarterback.
Trubisky completed 63.2 percent of his passes for 3,138 yards, 17 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in 2019. He averaged an abysmal 6.1 yards per pass attempt, the worst mark among all 32 starters in the NFL.
After Nagy planned for the 25-year-old Trubisky to grow in the "202" stage of his offense, Trubisky struggled to make the right reads that were needed to direct the offensive system properly and efficiently.
The Bears imagined that Trubisky would be the reason why they would to the playoffs in 2019 and advance beyond the wild-card round. Instead, his struggles brought down the team.
The Bears had alarming issues elsewhere on offense that contributed to Trubisky's struggles. Nagy's play-calling often seemed ill-fitted for Trubisky's strengths. Their running game never got moving all season. The offensive line faltered in ways Pace didn't imagined. The struggles were a team breakdown with Trubisky front and center.
Not long after Pace offered his support behind Trubisky, he and Nagy began sorting through the wreckage of the Bears' season. That needed to start with Trubisky, whose place as the Bears' quarterback is uncertain.
"The comparisons are out there, and they are never going to stop. It’s kind of me, Pat (Mahomes) and Deshaun (Watson) are kind of all grouped together because we are in the same draft class, drafted in the first round and all that. But there are no do-overs. We are where we are. Our careers are going in different paths, and they will for the rest of time and they’ll be compared against each other."
-- Mitchell Trubisky on his quarterback peers
The Bears have a talented roster and aspirations to win the NFC North in 2020, so why does it make sense for the struggling Trubisky to remain the starter?
"The dividends can pay off if it comes to fruition," Pace said. "Again, we've seen this before with young quarterbacks, the trials and tribulations they go through. It's part of it. Sometimes if you stick with it, you see it through, you're dedicated to the development of the process, that can be very beneficial to the organization long-term."
Whether Pace's actions match his words remains to be seen. It's worth remembering that in 2017, the Bears named Mike Glennon their starting quarterback while privately planning to draft Trubisky a month later.
By the start of the new league year in March, Pace must decide whether the Bears are best suited with the "trials and tribulations" of Trubisky or veteran stability at quarterback.
There will be veteran quarterbacks available. Drew Brees, Tom Brady and Philip Rivers are all set to hit the open market, as are Teddy Bridgewater, Ryan Tannehill and Case Keenum. A trade for someone like Andy Dalton is also a possibility.
The other question the Bears need to figure out is Trubisky's future beyond 2020. A blueprint for what to do could be the path the Jaguars took with Blake Bortles in 2018, when he signed a three-year contract extension with $26.5 million guaranteed and worth up to $54 million. It allowed the Jaguars to evaluate the embattled Bortles in a prove-it 2018 season while owning his rights beyond that.
Bortles struggled in the first season of that contract and was released a year after the signing. The Jaguars saved $4.5 million in salary cap space and endured a dead money hit of $16.5 million, which didn't count against the cap.
Trubisky's fifth-year option would come at a hefty sum for the Bears. It could be worth north of $24 million and would be fully guaranteed if he's on the roster for the start of the 2021 league year.