Getty General manager Ryan Pace of the Chicago Bears walks the sidelines before a preseason game.
Hub Arkush has been covering the Chicago Bears in some form since 1987.
An insider for Chicago’s 670 The Score, Arkush was filling in for Danny Parkins and Matt Spiegel on the Parkins & Spiegel show, and on the December 28 episode, he dropped some eye-opening information about early interactions between team management and general manager Ryan Pace.
The Bears hired Pace as GM in 2015 to replace Phil Emery, and the new GM was immediately tasked with hiring a new head coach, as Chicago had also just parted ways with Marc Trestman. Pace hired John Fox, who was later fired after two seasons, but according to Arkush, Pace didn’t want Fox — he wanted current Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn.
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Arkush: ‘They Talked Ryan Pace Into It’
When discussing a new NFL rule that permits teams to interview head coaching candidates during the final two weeks of the regular season as long as permission is given by the team employing the candidate, Arkush shared a story about Pace’s first coaching hire.
According to Arkush, Bears Chairman George McCaskey and President and CEO Ted Phillips talked the young GM into hiring Fox when Pace had apparently wanted Quinn, who was the first head-coaching candidate the team interviewed to replace Trestman in 2015. Quinn was a highly-sought after candidate at the time, but due to different rules in the NFL’s interviewing process, the Bears had limited chances to talk to Quinn, who was DC for the Seattle Seahawks at the time and was only available when they had a first round bye in the playoffs.
Fox soon became available, and instead of waiting on Quinn, the Bears hired Fox, who had recently agreed to mutually part ways with the Denver Broncos. Here’s how Arkush says it went down:
My understanding according to numerous sources is that when Ryan Pace got hired, he already had a verbal understanding with Dan Quinn that Dan Quinn was going to be the Bears head coach. And then, Seattle goes on a Super Bowl run. Well, the Bears are getting advised by Ernie Accorsi, they’ve got the youngest GM in the league, they don’t want a young first-time coach. John Fox suddenly becomes available. Good friend of Ernie Accorsi’s. McCaskey and Phillips liked the idea. They talk Ryan Pace into it. That’s my understanding of how that all went down. Ryan probably could’ve vetoed it and didn’t, but nonetheless, it happened because Dan Quinn wasn’t available to be interviewed.
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Broncos Insider Adds a Wrinkle
Broncos insider Benjamin Allbright responded to Arkush’s side of the story, and he says he heard it went down a bit differently. According to Allbright, Quinn had expressed he wanted George Paton to be the GM in Chicago instead of Pace, and that once Pace was on board, Quinn lost interest in the Bears gig.
@ChiSportUpdates @Hub_Arkush My understanding of the situation is slightly different. Namely that Quinn wanted George Paton as his general manager and once Ryan Pace was brought on board, he was out.
Hub may know more, but that’s my understanding.
If Allbright is correct, that makes this a totally different scenario, although he did acknowledge Arkush “may know more.” Regardless which insider’s version is true, the Bears’ inability to find solid leadership is the fault of Pace, McCaskey and Phillips combined, and it’s the reason change is on the horizon again in Chicago.
The Bears are very likely going to be in the market for a head coach once again at the end of the year, and Pace’s future is also a question mark. We’ll see how it shakes down, but the next few months promise to be eventful ones in and around Halas Hall.
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