Open Rants by Grizzly

I was really excited when Ryan Pace came to the Bears. I was a glass is half full fan, of course his first year helped to mold his persona as a guru. In 2016 I tolerated his letting Bennett and Marshall walk as he was the guru, I did not mind that an argument could be made on our first two picks panned out, he made some nice pickups in Free Agency and some busts, but still he was the guru and I stood by him, actually defended him on numerous occasions.

 Now I am a bit of a draftnic and study the draft carefully. You can find me at Walter Football under the handle “Grizzly”. Believe me I fully “get” swinging for the fences, even though I’m a base hitter, keep the ball I the park and stretch a base hit occasionally. When the Bears had a dismal record last year, I was excited. This was the perfect storm draft for the Browns, Bears and Saints, heavy on the D side and deep. I was ready for the Monsters of the Midway to return. There simply was not much separation between the top five QB’s and each has their plusses and minuses. 2018 is the draft for QB’s any expert will tell you. Sure I like and see the upside with Trubisky, but no one was going to reach for him. Certainly no one was going to give away a picks to move one spot for him, and if they did shame on them. You see the Bears don’t have the luxury of in a few years, the fierce urgency of now is where we are. The laugher is if you really wanted him you make the trade with the Browns not SF, so at least it could have been worse. I was sure even after that the Bears did this FOR the Browns (because it would be cheaper for the Bears than the Browns). I fully expected at 12 to hear about the trade and our haul of extra picks. Nope, not a peep, Gumby was giddy, and he had not even told Pokey until 90 minutes before…Oh dear.

At the Chicago Board of Trade and the Mercantile, we have a name for this it is called The Rio Trade, or Go big or go home. It happens when a trader is down so far he (or she) bets everything (and more on a position). Either they go to Rio as a giant or they flee to Rio with their tail between their legs and the long arm of the law right behind them. It Is the ALL IN bet. For Pace to make this move he is ALL IN. Then he doubles down with a player I personally like, but certainly not after the first trade was made. Sure the moving back in the second was inspired and kudos, but then he takes another huge risk? It is what traders call a naked position where there is no hedge. Perhaps Pace does not like Chicago and wants out or is just drinking the Kool Ade (or smoking the hookah). Why would he risk his job security on the Rio trade? He could have waited and if Mitch was gone, roll the dice on Mahomes or Watson. I would have Taken Thomas, OUR local kid, who I think will be better than Garrett. I would have been happy with either Adams or Hooker, Lattimore, Allen, heck even Davis, Howard or Williams would have been acceptable. To abandon our defense with the first two picks is lunacy. We are the laughing stock of the entire NFL and our division is licking their chops.

Really, I would have taken the other two Tight Ends, or even Boles or Foster before I did the Rio trade. Pace’s record at the back of the draft is far from glowing. But I can’t stress enough that THIS draft was built for the Bears. Not surprisingly, ALL the top experts rank the Bears draft 32 of 32 teams. Listen I HOPE Pace knows more than all the top experts, but in my opinion Virginia McCaskey could have chosen better. My grandfather had many of these witty nuggets of knowledge. There were two I cringed at when he started a sentence: “On the basis of past performance…” followed by a resounding, no. The one that seems fitting today, is: “You make your own bed and then you must sleep in it”. I also should mention that the top experts all give Green Bay an A, some give Detroit and A (others a B) and all give the Vikings a B. That my friends is a steep mountain to climb and nope, I am not a happy camper. Theo you spoiled us. Maybe I can utter “Bear Down” after today’s picks…that is if we address the defense with the dregs that are left. Oh boy we just took Eddie Jackson, I think he is about my 13 ranked safety, gee, that gives me a warm fuzzy feeling, pass the hookah.