(670 The Score) Hyperbole is industry in cities like Chicago, which keeps two sports talk radio stations moving the dials and peddles enough passion to keep our conversations lively and stadiums full.
We occasionally exaggerate the wins and losses, overrate the players in home uniforms and overstate the stakes of every decision, whether it’s made in the seventh inning or, say, the NFL Draft on Thursday.
The longer you live here, the louder the chorus seems to get every year, a wonderfully enjoyable cacophony of chaos that so often becomes the soundtrack of so many lost seasons. On the job since 2015, Bears general manager Ryan Pace surely recognizes the annual rhythms enough by now to know he can’t escape the clatter.
But Pace must find a way to ignore it.
This draft isn't about Pace needing to prove to noisy skeptics, from barrooms to living rooms or from social media to the Bears beat, that he can evaluate a quarterback after the colossal Mitch Trubisky mistake. It’s not about Pace responding to any pressure he feels to solve the organization’s systemic problem at the position since Sid Luckman. It’s not about Pace following any draft day impulse to make a deal when quarterbacks start flying off the board.
This is about Pace proving he's grown on the job.
This is the draft Pace must demonstrate the maturity you hope he developed from six previous drafts, the draft he resists the thrill of trading up for the security of standing pat, the draft he bores us with the football-iest of football decisions by taking an offensive tackle or a cornerback he needs in the first round and calling it a night.
And what a good night that would be for the Bears, who can wake up Sunday morning feeling like legitimate playoff contenders if Pace handles the weekend correctly.
The mindset he must adopt: Nothing more rides on the Bears holding the No. 20 overall draft pick than a chance to select a player capable of starting Week 1. Pace needs to forget about swinging for the fences and — sticking with the baseball analogy – just advance the runner. His internal resolve must guide him more than any external influences. The smartest move Pace could make isn't trying to look like a genius. Selecting 20th – the spot designated as no-man’s land in the NFL Draft landscape – that’s the most realistic and practical approach. Take the highest-rated player at offensive tackle or cornerback available when the Bears go on the clock and be happy with what the board produces.
Ideally, that player would be Virginia Tech offensive tackle Christian Darrisaw – a core-type player considered the third-best at his position who has been projected to go anywhere between No. 13 and near the end of the first round. Another acceptable offensive tackle option would be Oklahoma State's Teven Jenkins, who could compete immediately for playing time.
But if Darrisaw goes elsewhere and the Bears have a higher grade on Northwestern cornerback Greg Newsome than Jenkins, then they easily could justify drafting the high-character, high-potential local product. Virginia Tech cornerback Caleb Farley might be more NFL-ready, but Farley’s injury history that includes two surgeries carries risk that might be best avoiding. Give new defensive coordinator Sean Desai a rookie cornerback like Newsome to develop opposite of Jaylon Johnson, and suddenly the Bears secondary becomes much more promising.
What about the wide receiver position, the offensive-minded among you might ask? With Allen Robinson and Darnell Mooney, the Bears have at least a semblance of a receiving corps and possibly could wait until the middle rounds to find a sleeper at the position – that's where they found Mooney. The holes at cornerback and offensive tackle threaten to expose the Bears quicker, so they must be addressed.
Of course, that first-round draft plan to take the highest-rated among the available offensive tackles or cornerbacks comes with a big caveat: If any of the three quarterbacks expected to go in the top 10 after Trevor Lawrence and Zach Wilson at Nos. 1 and 2 – Mac Jones, Trey Lance and Justin Fields – fall as far as No. 20, for whatever reason, the Bears have to strongly consider revising their plan immediately and taking whoever drops.
The Bears could rationalize taking a calculated risk on Jones, Lance or Fields at No. 20 if any of them remained on the board and they didn’t have to give up anything. But the Bears couldn’t defend paying a steep cost to move up, such as possibly two first-round picks besides this year’s and another mid-round pick. That’s exorbitant but likely near the asking price, which should be well out of the Bears’ range. You just know there’s an NFL general manager drafting in the top 10 who looks forward to Pace calling him on the clock to make a deal.
Given Pace’s track record, what would possess chairman George McCaskey to empower Pace to trade, say, the No. 20 pick this year and the next two first-round draft picks for the right to select either Jones, Lance or Fields? Nothing about the history of Pace picking quarterbacks suggests the light suddenly will go on Thursday night presiding over his seventh Bears draft while still waiting for his first playoff victory. Not even with coach Matt Nagy at Pace’s side.
Sure, trading into the top 10 to take a quarterback would make the next eight to 10 months more interesting at Halas Hall, but it also could jeopardize the next eight to 10 years. If you think that sounds like more Chicago-style exaggeration, consider how far Pace being wrong about Trubisky set back the Bears. Yet somehow, he survived that miscalculation, long enough to wonder and worry if he's capable of doing it again. BREAKING: Pace is.
Trade back to accumulate picks? By all means, try – anything but trading up again and spending draft capital like it’s petty cash.
For the Bears’ sake, here’s hoping the consensus Pace was blabbing about Tuesday convinces the general manager that waiting until the second round to address the quarterback position makes the most sense. The Bears have been linked primarily to three potential quarterbacks pegged to be second-round picks: Stanford’s Davis Mills, Texas A&M’s Kellen Mond and Florida’s Kyle Trask. All three prospects have traits that are easy to like. Who appeals most depends on the trained eyes evaluating the skill sets. My opinion from the press box would rank them, in order, Mond, Mills and Trask, but several reports as late as Wednesday have linked the Bears to Mills. They could do much worse than develop a Stanford quarterback.
As long as Pace holds onto his picks and waits for a quarterback to fall to him, this can be a pragmatic, productive draft for the Bears. It can't turn into a reckless expression of Pace’s impulse to be aggressive.
Granted, Lance might develop into a Pro Bowl quarterback despite his relative inexperience dominating FCS opponents. But the Bears don’t have the luxury of taking that risk like other teams do, not after Pace swung and missed on a quarterback who only started 13 games in college. Lance started 19, but his last start came in the only game he played in during the 2020 season, a victory over Central Arkansas in which he completed 15 of 30 passes. Look up raw in the NFL quarterback glossary and you will see Lance’s picture.
On the other hand, Jones comes from college football’s most successful modern program and offers an NFL team a leader capable of taking over sooner rather than later, which is why the 49ers appear so willing to part with starter with Jimmy Garoppolo. But given the future first-round picks Jones was throwing to at Alabama, it’s fair to wonder if the wide receivers made the quarterback more than the quarterback made the wide receivers. Jones going in the top 10 would be the most indelible sign of the NFL Draft times.
Fields excelled against college football’s best defenses yet, for reasons hard to grasp, is the most likely of the three to drop, according to many in league circles. The revelation that Fields has successfully dealt with epilepsy understandably raised some eyebrows but, if the medical prognosis offers hope and certainty, the dual-threat nature of Fields’ game figures to translate well at the next level. The Bears, for one, are desperate to draft a quarterback like Fields.
But, on this night, Pace must resist letting that desperation be his inspiration.
In the NFL and professional sports in general, executives rarely get the chance the Bears have afforded Pace. Moving up in the first round in 2017 and missing on Trubisky earned Pace ignominy in a football city. Doing the same four years later would ensure a legacy as a laughingstock around the league. Hopefully, the voice inside Pace’s head reminds him of that reality.
Listening to it Thursday night could quiet the noise.
David Haugh is the co-host of the Mully & Haugh Show from 5-9 a.m. weekdays on 670 The Score. Click here to listen. Follow him on Twitter @DavidHaugh.