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As a slight addendum, the only benefit I could see from a "Pace elevation" is not so much about changing any internal roles but that Pace/Kelly run future press conferences. Ted is an ornery dude and just comes off terrible. So it could be a pure play PR move. I mockingly also suggested Gary Fencik for this fake President PR role and got Sulley all riled up on Twitter too, which was fun.

One rumor going around is that the Bears move Pace up in a director of football operations type of position and potentially hire a GM from within underneath him (Champ Kelly is a popular name here). Part of me really likes this idea. The Bears do actually have a decent scouting department and Kelly is well respected around the league and probably gets some GM interviews this offseason. If the Bears clean house, he won't be jobless for long. Part of me really likes this move. With all going on with a potential new stadium and all Pace has done for the off-field product (Halas Hall), I think some continuity could be a good thing. But also, wouldn't have him as the primary guy selecting his 3rd coach. Is that a legit rumor? I saw someone on twitter talking about this but it was written as if it was an idea they had and not something that was actually rumored. I know that the McCaskey family likes Pace a lot and I'll admit he's done a good bit to modernize the Bears football operations, but I just don't know how it changes anything if he's elevated. Does the new GM have full autonomy over the draft and player moves or would they be Jed to Ryan's Theo? At some point the Bears are going to need draft capital to build around Fields and I think Pace has done a poor job of using his resources efficiently. Because of that, it's hard to look at the Bears future and think that its in good hands with him running the show. I don't gather they are hard rumors. More speculative connecting of dots. But I just don't buy it as viable. And there are really several reasons why; 1. Practical concerns: The NFL is somewhat unique in that teams can block only their number1 FO or number 1 HC from being poached from other teams. Once you get to the number 2 level, you can't protect those guys from another teams number 1 role. So there's really no guarantee that a guy like Champ can't just be poached by another team. MLB and NBA have much broader authority to block current employees so the calculus is different - there really isn't definition of number 1 roles. 2. Beyond the practical issue, I think its the concern about not giving a guy proper autonomy. Pace (or some other "Pres of Football Ops") hanging over a GM just doesn't sound productive. And it probably makes future job evaluations even harder for George, IMO, as he has to parse out who's maximizing what between Pace, a GM, and a Head Coach. If anything they should consolidate roles and go the Patriots/Seahawks model where your HC is your top football person. 3. Pace really is just a football guy. Sometimes it's framed as Pace filling in for Ted's void, but they are in all honestly not related roles at all. If Pace was somehow filling Ted's shoes he'd be by far the least business credentialed President in the league. Its a business role. So I could see a scenario where Ted vacates the Pres role and stays as CEO of the team, while also be named CEO of the Arlington Park development where he focuses his time, but his replacement as president will be a business person, not a former GM type like Pace, or god forbid a former player with no FO or biz experience, as is often bandied about (tHeY ShoUlD hIRe MaNnInG aS pReS!) At the end of the day, teams have 1 top football mind. And one top business role. Sometimes the owner fills one or both of these roles. But throwing around some titles really solves little to nothing. Title aside you basically have 3 leadership models that any NFL franchise follows; Owner is the principal business mind and heads football ops head (DAL, CIN) Owner acts as primary business mind and hires a GM* to head the football ops (NE, LAC, LAR, TB, IND, PIT, NYG, MIN, ARI, SF, BUF,CAR) Owner hires a CEO/Pres to run business ops and a GM* to head the football ops (CHI, BALT, ATL, KC, LALR, JAX, PHI, NO, MIA, DEN, DET, CLE, SEA, NYJ, TEN, WFT, TEX, LV) *Again the case of Seattle and New England its the head coach, but there still isn't this extra hierarchy, there's less actually) That's really about it, and "elevating" Pace doesn't change that. You have a few niche cases in Denver and Baltimore where long time, successful GMs were elevated to some senior role, but Pace isn't Elway or Newsome. Those are arguable quasi-retirement roles anyways. And Denver has the added challenge of going through the sale of the team through an estate, which may have played in as there's some leadership void there. Atlanta is another fringe case that has a former GM in the top business role, but he does actually have a law background that predates his time as a GM. Washington and Cleveland have somewhat unique structures, but still probably generally fall into the third setup above. Washington and Green Bay also do have former NFL players in that top business role, although in GBs case I really do think the business aspect was the primary factor. Washington's setup is a little less clear, though Wright still far exceeds Pace's business background. And well, I wouldn't want to use Washington as a model franchise either. Beyond all that, Pace is really just an average GM to me. Whatever positives he has had on the franchise, just be grateful for them and move on. Maybe that means handing the reins over to someone internal to reduce turnover, but let's not complicate things by trying to justify an elevated Pace. Either keep him or move on.

That last part of your last sentence gives him the edge for me right now. He has run a top 3 offense in 2 of the last 3 years. He has some ties to the Fangio defense. And the Ravens are simply the best run franchise in the sport right now. I trust him more to build a great staff than Daboll at this point. The one thing I do worry about with Roman though is he puts a TON on his QB. I know the Ravens RB situation is a mess, but Lamar has almost twice as many carries as anyone else on that team. He had the most carries on the team last year when they had 3 legit and healthy backs. I mean Daboll is probably still top 3 for me, or top 5 at worst. Roughly speaking its probably Roman Daboll Bowles Morris Toub Those would be my top 5 if I was broadening it past just Offensive guys, which I think they should. Moore has some intrigue, but I do worry he's too green. Hackett has some intrigue. Pick another name out of the Shannahan/McVay hat if you're feeling trendy I guess, but I guess its no accident my top two offensive choicess are serving under D head coaches. There's zero doubt they are running their show currently.

I know decisions certainly not made using logic at Halas Hall but I cant believe they would keep Pace. It's his 6th year and the team has holes all over, is cap strapped and little draft capital. It's great that he got Fields, but you need to take advantage of his rookie contract and the guy that wastes ridiculous amounts of resources is not the guy to do that. Just spit balling here, but I could see the McCaskeys seeing Fields' success as an indicator of Pace's success and keeping him around for awhile longer. We will just have to see what happens. I think this whole draft class even could influence their opinion (it shouldn't). But if Jenkins returns and it looks like Pace just produced a 4 starter draft class including potential All Pro QB, I could see it being a deciding factor.

I think it's TBD if theyre a package deal. I could easily see where Pace is back, in which case I'm sure he'll have full authority to make a move at HC, and I'm sure he would. It's just hard to envision any scenario where Nagy is back. Whether they wait it out til the bitter end or not though, is unknown.

After doing some research I think I'm really coming onto Greg Roman as an option for the Bears HC. He seems to have the most diverse background. Lots of stops and worked with some great staffs, so he should have lots of connections to build a staff. Suits his scheme to his players. Not a system guy, I can't even tell if he comes from a "tree". Obviously he's done amazing work with Lamar and the Ravens O. I think he'd be able to not just fix the O and finish developing Fields, but build a great top to bottom staff.

Just fire the taunt rules into the sun. Unless a player makes contact it should be dealt with as a fine only.

When I selectively chose to believe PFF grades are obviously infallible.

Okay now is the week for the Fields has arrived takes. I am swoon

A whole bunch of 6'6" dudes and you ain't letting JF take a chance on that hail Mary? Come on man.

Holy horsefeathers what a break.

I wouldn't quite say that. He's a backup. We're probably stuck with him, at the very least as a nickle. Or whatever we can replace with on a minimum deal.

I don't care if they somehow pull out a miracle, Nagy should be gone tomorrow. I've seen enough.

I hate just about everything about this game.

Omg if this gets overturned...

Oh yay. George how many times you gonna let this team get embarrassed on national TV before pulling the plug?

4th best play of the night for the Bears O.

Two against teams with winning records!

Man, it's frankly amazing were still recruiting people to the Nagy fire train.

*Checks in on Bulls game*

The sulleyness ended like this last week which I thought was hilarious And someone said he was Ted Phillips burner account which he didn't take well And this banger was a comparison I feel like only Sulley would try to make

I doubt he's changed at all, still droning on about England's ruling family and how capitalists suck He's on twitter but I don't see much non-sports tweeting from him. I do occasionally see an 'only my teams' style tweet during Bears games though. I will engage with him on Twitter. Don't think he would know I'm an NSBBer, but he got pretty worked up about Ted Phillips the other day which was funny (we were actually roughly on the same side of the debate and he was going a little nuts lol).

Forgot we had him. Is this move being made to activate Monty for tomorrow? Sounds like he’s trending towards playing Yea I assume it's for Montys spot.

End of an era. Share your favorite Breshard Perriman moments:

While you rejoice, the soccer thread weeps. Dang. Honestly in my mind that was a pro soccer thread. Do we talk all soccer there. Pro and amateur? Eta I just checked and I last accessed that thread 20 pages ago. Lol.