Ryan Pace wakes up.
He kisses his wife on the forehead. Tells her he loves her.
He walks downstairs and pours himself a cup of Lavazza. (I assume Pace is like me and has the kind of coffee maker he can set the night before.) Maybe he makes some toast. Dry. No butter. Maybe he fries and egg or two. He sits at the kitchen table in silence.
Coffee works.
He takes his dump.
Showers.
Dresses for the workday. His favorite suit. He needs it today. This is not his normal workday and he knows it.
He gets into the office an hour earlier than normal to prepare and stares out the window, waiting to see the cars of Ted Phillips and George McCaskey arrive.
They finally do. It’s time.
“Ted, George,” he says, “I fucked up.”
In the modern NFL, missing on the first-round quarterback can set a franchise back years if you let it. The Bears can’t let it. Today, the entire organization has to acknowledge they chose the wrong guy. It’s difficult. It’s painful. For Pace, it’s somewhat humiliating. But it is necessary if the team hopes to contend for a title in in the next few years. Because they will not contend for anything with Mitch Trubisky playing quarterback.
I’m not going to rehash last week’s column every Monday. Trubisky can’t play. He seems to require ten yards of space between the receiver and defender to complete a pass. (Who misses receivers on five yard slants?) He’s a backup. And now there seems to be a legion of fans on social media ready to excuse him for every single poor decision and dumb throw and mindless error and clueless moment.
No drunk ever quits drinking until they admit they have a problem. Pace, Nagy and the whole of the Bears organization need to confront this basic truth. The quarterback can’t play. And they have to move on.
