Alaskan Grizzly

I was going to stay out of this string so as to avoid hurting anyone's feelings of my "negativity" and the general good vibes you guys were sharing but then I saw this... (bolded) Before I go into what it was I said a year ago and how I don't see this as similar, I'd like to see what I actually wrote...so as to get a good context on the conversation. I tried searching and can't find it.

Let me just say, for what it's worth, this is an excellent, well thought out editorial. I totally get the message of 'internal conflict' you describe and how you feel cautiously optimistic (which is a phrase I use to describe myself with the current situation). Although I'm happy that our team picked a QB (finally), it's bittersweet (in a sense) because a) it wasn't the one I wanted (lol) b ) I don't know enough about him to form a favorable opinion and c)like you said, feel that 'we' gave away too much for him. Because of that last reason is why I'm most discouraged. We entered the draft knowing we had many holes to fill. Had a decent number draft picks in order to address many of those needs. Yet gave up as many as 3-4 current and future spots to get Trubisky. Again, a guy who has no concrete track record other than an 8-5 college record. And what's more, of the remaining positions we had (the other four draft picks) our GM chose to fill three of them with small-school prospects. Granted, any or all of them could work out and be star(s) for our team but not only did we limit our chances of more rookies succeeding, we limited it to lesser known 'talent'. I agree that Pace's "strength" in the past is/was finding some quality players with relative unknowns (Howard being the prime example) especially in later rounds, but the fact that we lacked more 'later rounds' to choose from didn't allow him to plant more of those seeds. And at the end of the day I still can't help myself from thinking we (Pace) were bested by San Francisco and Cleveland in this last draft cycle.

Something else to consider and to Jason's point about picking a QB in the later rounds; how many times leading up to the draft did we hear this year's QB class didn't have one "Franchise quality QB" in them? Yet three ended up being picked within the first 12 picks. Yes there has been much discussion about the QB class of 2018 and (allegedly) how much better it will be, yet three teams 'swung for the fences' this year. Did we 'luck out' in getting Trubisky this year? Who knows? But no matter how you slice it, the 'price' to get him seemed absolutely ridiculous.

Thank you Jason for putting a fine point on my concerns. I'm willing to wait and give it the benefit of the doubt but the guarded optimist in me says 'same tune, different conductor'. Here's to unexpected success.

Not so sure I believe this. Even in the video that was linked in your story, Schefter was speculating an awful lot about what he thought happened. Here's another perspective from some other beat reporters: http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2017/4/28/1547...rade-2017-draft And then there's this. A perspective from the 49ers draft room. They were nearly incredulous of Paces want for Trubisky: https://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2017/05/01/san-fra...ster-peter-king For what it's worth, perhaps Trubisky will be the QB we've needed all this time. But I feel that this trade up one spot (from 3 to 2, and a bunch of other 'commodities' to do it) was poorly executed.

Hey if Pace turns out to be right and one of those three players significantly contributes this year I'll eat crow. If two; I'll eat my hat. If all three make the Pro Bowl someday, it'll eat the clothes I'm wearing today. Right here, right now this smells too much like Emery's style to me.

So I "unabashedly hate" Trubisky? Did you not read anything I've written? If I'm 'displeased' with anyone it's Pace. It's not Trubisky's fault he's potentially overrated. He could very well work out. I'll say it again; don't like how we got him. And I'm not impressed with what he's accomplished thus far. No where do I approach the definition of hate...let alone without shame. Since I put words in your mouth, why don't you explain to me in yourself what your you meant with the Walsh comment?

Not sure I believe this one. But do tend to believe the rumor of discourse developing between Fox and Pace. Mahomes went to KC. And they have been questioned about their choice to get him like they did. Difference is; they have Andy Reid as their coach, Alex Smith as their starter and a pretty damn good defense.

Wow, comparing Walsh and Pace? Now that's a stretch.

I read the Bears weren't going to exercise the 5th year option on his contract already. Which I'll admit I don't understand since he's entering year 4. But if they are already saying that then it must not bode well for him. http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/kyle-fu...th-year-option/

No I think you misunderstood my point. On the one hand, we (you) are placing value on what others (experts) have said about Trubisky but in the same breath de-valuing other experts when they question the rationale for the pick in the way the Bears did it. And since we're 'there' discussing this plethora of accolades from the experts who rated Trubisky as the top QB prospect; please list them out for me. I'm curious on what basis they made this measurement? Again, the kid's only got 13 games under his belt. And I might add this one caveat; Trubisky was a three year player for North Carolina but didn't start until this last year. Why couldn't he beat out Marquise Williams? By the way, where is he these days? And before you choose to belittle my opinion again, understand I'm not totally against the choice, just how it was done. A few quotes about Cohen from other sources than your own: "Too eager to bounce everything. Takes his share of negative yardage carries. Feet are electric, but footwork and run track on zone plays needs work. Takes big hits from big men when trying to fight out of tackles and squeeze out extra yards. Stature and short arms make him a tougher target for quarterbacks. Has almost no experience as a punt or kick returner on special teams. And: "He has no value on special teams, as he doesn’t have much experience as a returner. Considering that he’s only 5’6″ and 179 pounds, that’s worrisome. Speaking of size, his frame is less than ideal. It’s unlikely that he’ll ever be able to handle a full NFL workload. At best, he’s the type of guy to get four or five touches per game." So tell me again how valuable Cohen will be with "no experience as a returner" and only probably contributing "4-5 carries per game"? I'll be more than happy to point out your being wrong. Just like when you were convinced Cutler was a Franchise QB. This too shall pass... Talk about reading comprehension, or lack thereof, I actually like this pick. Already said so. I'm concerned about his injury history but like Everything else about him. Alabama defender, team leader and one time top rated cover safety. All things we actually need. Since you apparently did the math already, and since you went back as far as 1939 with Sid Luckman (they had "small schools" then?), tell me how successful the small school draftees were compared to the more traditional DI products. With 3 of the 5 picks being from small schools, I don't get an overwhelming feeling of potential success.

When you have a team with as many holes as our team has/had then you can call it 'unexplainable' (sic). When you trade away 2-3 current draft picks and another for next year, without knowing this kid's potential, you call it inexplicable. How is he 'arguably' the best QB in the draft? Either you accept the expert's analysis of him or you don't. It seems with all the bad-mouthing from sites like WalterFootball, Deadspin and SI.com and "experts" like Skip Bayless, Steven Smith, Mel Kiper and Pete Prisco and on and on, we are consoling each other and saying ignore all the negativity. Yet we make an argument that Trubisky could be the next best thing for the Bears? How, intuition? What has he done to earn all this praise? He played 13 games with a record of 8-5 against which teams? Did he play in a pro-style offense? No. He was called "Mr Football" in Ohio when he played HS football? So what? Johnny Manziel was Mr.Football when he played collegiately for A&M; look where that got him. I just don't get it. 'We' were schooled by a rookie GM in San Francisco and bested by a perennial losing team in Cleveland. As much as it pains me, Cleveland laid the ground work for a draft the way its supposed to go; especially for a team lacking across the board talent and having many holes it needed filled. They drafted three (3!!!) quality players in the first round and still got a decent QB in the second round. The same QB that our Bears spent all their time (or a large portion of time) researching. About that. How do you explain a pick that he himself didn't expect because there was no meeting and no pre-draft primer to suggest he would be picked by our team. How about the rumor Fox was kept in the dark? How about the fact Glennon is on record as saying he feels 'cheated on'? Is this the kind of drama our team needed? Let alone the sacrificial moves to get there This whole trying to look cunning by picking D2 talent is ludicrous. On face value we already have a player that is "Sproles-like'" and can be a joystick by the name of Benny Cunningham. A lot of those "experts" suspect Cohen won't be able to hold up the NFL grind. We know Cunningham can because he's been doing it for a few years already. And this idea that Sheehan is Gronk's second coming...please. How about we wait and see how he shapes up to actual competition instead of those D2 powerhouses of Mercyhurst, Tiffin and Michigan Tech. The one (of the small school picks (3 of the 5 picks by the way)) that made the most sense was Kutztown's Jordan Morgan. Being that he was/is an OT. Unfortunately we waited until the 5th round to address that need....with a D2 player. Pace has had his time to have his 'talent evaluation' and the team still is losing games. Will they win more this year? Still remains to be seen, but building the team in this manner goes against so much conventional wisdom it's nearly laughable. If it were the Cleveland Browns or Green Bay Packers, it would be laughable. But since its the Bears, I'm not sure what to think.

It's hard to be even a little optimistic when you keep seeing stuff like this. The one upside in the whole draft, Jackson, has injury issues but hopefully not enough to hamper his contributions. If there is any hope for this draft to be a success he'll need to contribute sooner than later.

I'm pretty sure SF would've picked Thomas regardless. But agreed, would've really liked to have seen a defender (Adams or even Watson - although we could've traded back for him IMHO). Relatively happy with Jackson (agree with you). Would've liked to have seen a big body WR somewhere. Still also think we'll need an ILB this year.

SPEAK BROTHER JASON!!!

Cmon Ryan. Admit it, your draft sucked so please do something positive and get rid of Sanchez before he actually has to soil a Bears uniform.

Should've completely edited that last line out entirely. Lynch was probably lying his ass off. The more I listen about Trubisky the more I dislike him; at that pick.

In my mind Pace is grading downward ever so slight. Personally I think the Trubisky deal is a close FUBAR situation. Good to have a potential franchise QB? Sure(?) but at what cost? If true Fox didn't know thenthat by itself could make this year interesting. Many of the 'expert' analysts are having quite a laugh at our expense. Hell the home crowd at the Bulls game booed Trubisky last night when he was introduced. (But then so was Glennon at the Cubs opener). HOPEFULLY our team can prove them wrong. I'm not optimistic but I'll keep my digits crossed. I'm going to predict that Connor Shaw will end up in at least the number #2 spot. Partly (mostly) because I absolutely hate the idea of Sanchez on the team. Butt fumble extraordanaire.

Didn't we sign a player, Benny Cunningham from the Rams, who virtually is the same type player? I'm with you Jason. This whole draft really made no sense.

I'm equally overly unimpressed with this years draft class. Aside from the safety from Alabama (who unfortunately has questionable injury history) I really am not looking too forward to the overall production of this class. Still waiting for about half of our class last year to do something. And the 1st from two years ago to contribute. How long before we hear White is out with another season ender? I'm still convinced that we're not set at ILB even if Kwitkowski steps up. I'm not one who believes Trevathan will return to full power if ever. Freeman is aging quick and outside of Kwit, who we got? This whole draft starting out with Trubisky and how it came about soured me significantly to Paces ability. I'm hoping to be way wrong on all this but I feel about as inspired as I did when Cutler used to start each game. Mad, I'm going to have invest in some major bottlage of Laughvilan this year. Haha

Little bummed to see the injury report which also included an ACL injury two years ago. But at least he wasn't a 1st round choice with that history. Looking forward to his contributions.

Finally, an Alabama defender!!! And a little more reading up on him, prior to his injury (fractured leg) against Texas A&M last year, he had 7 INTs (two for TDs) and many speculated as the "top cover safety" coming out of college. What's more Saban described him as a team leader and was the one responsible for getting the defensive secondary lined up. All this sounds great! Finally a drafted player I'm excited about!!!

Pace will probably draft a RB out from Trinity Christian College. Home of the fighting Trolls. I'd hope he look at a FS or CB at this point.

But I mean c'mon, in the second round? Really? You seriously think ANYONE else was looking at this guy anywhere on the draft board? I'm fairly confident Pace coulda gotten him in later rounds or even as a UDFA. I'm really starting to think Pace is trying to overthink it and get cute. He's acting a bit like Emery where he always thought he was the smartest guy in the room.

Check out the updated Wikipedia page linked in the story. Lolololol. Gotta love us Bears fans! http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300000080...y-low-for-a-bit