Chisoxfn

Albert Breer ‏@AlbertBreer 10s10 seconds ago Rival exec on Bears' hire of GM Ryan Pace: "Excellent. Coaches love him. Good pro guy. Hard worker. Very conscientious." Larry Holder ‏@LarryHolder 5m5 minutes ago Loomis on Pace at '14 Senior Bowl: "I kind of feel like he's been our secret for a while, but look, he's a great, young personnel director"

For those doubting Ernie's involvement:

QUOTE (shipps @ Jan 8, 2015 -> 01:27 PM) He is the guy that was waiting in the hallway for a couple hours for his interview earlier. I bet that was an initial shock. Got to hope Pace was ready. Talk about moving swiftly.

HE is in fact the youngest GM in the league. Now the next exciting part...who will the coach be.

Doug Marone was the OC for the Saints before Kromer, during the first first 3 years of Payton's tenure. Just an FYI. Give it half an hour and the Chicago media will pick up on this and rumors of Marone will start.

Some reaction. Lot of good feedback in there and I liked what Glazer talked about, basically that Pace (similar to Ballard) had been waiting out for the right spot. Makes me feel good. I'll end my negativity.

QUOTE (shipps @ Jan 8, 2015 -> 01:01 PM) Early reports are that it wasnt the case of Ballard backing out. I think it was Zaidman that reported that they were prepared to offer the job to Ballard and were leaning towards him but Pace just blew them away. I just think interview is just a component, you got to look at background and track record and everything else too. Maybe Chris was more realistic with the Bears in the interview and the rebuliding than Pace, who knows. I really don't like the fact that our GM doesn't have an extensive background in college scouting and the draft, which to me is one of the biggest part of being a GM (not the only part but you can't be a successful GM without successfully drafting, imo). Of course I base this on what his bio said and for all I know he was always very involved in the draft room and did actually have a lot of input / say in draft picks in New Orleans. He is more experienced than Ballard from the standpoint that he almost served as the quasi GM this past off-season. Of course the Saints off-season was a lot like the Bears, a lot of paper championships were awarded but on the field results were the opposite.

One thing that I don't like...if you look at his background, he has very very little college scouting background. That worries me.

Random sidenote: I still don't think the interview should necessarily be the selling point. Hopefully they liked his track record, references, etc. I'm sure Bears have pretty good relations with Payton and were able to talk to him. Than again, I'm sure we heard good things about Kromer too Excited to hear his press conference. I am also curious to hear what Ernie's feedback was (or if the Bears will address that or not) during the press conference. One thing I do wonder is whether anything will leak about Ballard not being as interested or what.

Told you guys they'd find a way to have Bowles in...now to see if Bowles knocks the Bears socks off. I like the fact that supposedly Pace's approach at a multi-year rebuilding plan knocked all of their socks off and his proposed approach I guess was better than Ballard's. That said, its all freaking hypothetical so hard to really say. At least its a guy from a winning organization but I really admire what the Chiefs have accomplished the past two years without an elite QB. I also think the Chiefs are a team that has a lot more overall talent than say the Saints. I've never viewed the Saints as loaded with talent and always felt that they were a flawed team that thankfully had masterful offensive personnel, specifically Brees, who could never seem to get the defense right (not sure how much that falls on Pace per say). Hopefully he's one of these young wiz kids that one day can move to the president role after winning a few superbowls as we promote from within some bright people who develop under him Geeze...37. Would that make him the youngest GM in the league?

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jan 8, 2015 -> 12:05 PM) Not sure if thats good or bad but I think that says we are putting a premium on scouting How good were the Saints drafts?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 8, 2015 -> 11:33 AM) But if Accorsi is a paid consultant, and interviewed them, wouldn't that count? I don't think he did interview the coaches, and I think he should have. IMO, unless you are talking contract, George and Ted talking to a potential coach is worthless. George & Ted should still be in the room. Ultimately they sign the checks. I think they should go off of the consultants recommendation but they also have to be comfortable with the process. I don't think they should just wait outside while Ernie does all the work. If I were a candidate and I couldn't meet with the owner and president and talk to them and understand their visions of your role, etc, I'd look very poorly on the Bears organization and would not be interested in working with them. I have no idea whether Ernie was in the interviews with the coaches or not but that decision shouldn't be made by Ernie so I am less concerned (as long as Ted / George let the GM make whatever decision on HC and i have no reason to believe the GM won't be allowed to do that). Would you prefer the Bears tell their next GM candidate that our adviser really liked so and so and we are going to hire him? That wouldn't make sense either. I want our GM to completely dictate who he wants. The coach still needs to meet and ownership still needs to sign off on it but I wouldn't expect a veto unless their was some insane red flag on the candidate (like, no, that candidate said all of these derogatory things about my mom Virginia). As long as Ernie is involved with the GM stuff, that is all that matters in my book. Also, I should point out, If I were the owners, I'd have let Ernie coach me so I could ultimately lead the meeting and ask the key questions, etc. I want as much of this stuff coming out of my mouth vs. having a 3rd party doing everything. That could look very poorly, imo. Than, Ernie can jump in with occasional questions and commentary as well. I presume it should be a pretty fluid discussion and would presume a lot of the talking is being done by the GM and not the other way around.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 8, 2015 -> 11:22 AM) If the GM is hiring the coach and Accorsi has interviewed the candidate, what is the purpose of said candidate going to Halas Hall to anwers questions from Geoge and Ted? What questions are they asking? If it is ANYTHING football related, NOTHING HAS CHANGED AT HALAS HALL. If you saw my other post, by interviewing candidates of playoff teams who had bye weeks, if said teams stay in the playoffs, you are actually able to re-interview them during the bye week between the conference championships and the superbowl. If you didn't interview them during the initial bye week, you have to wait until after the superbowl to interview them again. By meeting with candidates with the Seahawks / Broncos, we basically gave ourselves a shot at having our GM meet with them during the bye week. Otherwise, first shot we'd have at those candidates (if we were interested), would be after the superbowl (which I certainly wouldn't want us making our first impressions that late).

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 8, 2015 -> 10:42 AM) It would be awesome if their new GM is now part of the process, but a pipedream IMO Bowles would take the job if offered.. Why would Bowles blow off the 49ers and Falcons for the Bears, which is considered the worst job of the 3? I don't think Bowles would necessarily take the job before meeting with the other teams but part of that comes down to how confident is he in terms of his rank with those other teams and if he were to meet with our GM, how good of a sales pitch can our GM make (Supposedly that is a major strength of Ballard's).

Alright...I'm going to do some Steve like reporting and decide that we will hear that our new GM, Chris Ballard, was part of the Bowles interview. By the end of today we will know who are GM is (I think the Bears brass already knows) and if the Bears like what they hear from Bowles, they will make an aggressive push to stop him from visiting the Niners / Falcons later on.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 8, 2015 -> 10:24 AM) And if Accorsi isn't asking these candidates questions, exactly what is his purpose? Just to get names? These names were all pretty well known since Emery and Trestman were still Bears employees. George and Ted interviewing someone for football position is like Derrick Rose interviewing potential rocket scientists. IT MAKES NO SENSE. Have Accorsi interview these guys, give his recommondation, and then bring Ted and George in to see if they are comfortable with the dollars and personality. They shouldn't be asking football questions. They have proven they aren't qualified to do that. Accorsi has been interviewing the GM's, which is the important hire that Ernie is involved with. I am going to presume that something came up with Adam Gase that Ernie didn't attend, but either way, that is less of a focal point since the Bears aren't going to hire a coach without bringing in a GM and the GM will be the one asking the HC the questions that matter and making the final decision. If the Bears were to hire Gase today, without having a GM in place and without Ernie being involved, at that point, we can all get upset cause that would be awful. However, I don't think that is the case and with all of the misinformation out there and the fact that one person reported that Ernie wasn't in that interview, how do we even know that is the case. I know I read multiple tweets that pointed to Ernie taking part in all of the GM interviews (at a minimum).

Per Jason LaFoncora (NFL Network)

Per Ed Werder

QUOTE (buhbuhburrrrlz @ Jan 8, 2015 -> 10:19 AM) Brad Biggs @BradBiggs · 3h #Bears interviewing #Cardinals DC Todd Bowles for head coaching position today after schedule change. A look at him http://trib.in/13RIbZu I meant like what time. Morning, Afternoon, etc. I say that because when it came to Melo, literally the media was following his limo. Shouldn't they be doing something similar. This is the Bears we are talking about. The Bears trump every other sports franchise in Chicago (like it or not). Scooping this type of news is huge for any Bear reporter and for whichever media outlet employees said reporter.

Ballard is reportedly still in Chicago (per the Score).

You would think with the Bears done interviewing 4 candidates, that some of the candidates would at least start getting informed that the Bears are going to head in a different direction (and at least than, those groups would start leaking info). I guess the question is, do the Bears think they need 2nd round interviews with certain candidates or did they get to spend enough time with them in 1 interview. How come the Chicago media can't figure out when Bowles is interviewing? I figure something gets leaked prior to his interview but would be nice to know when that is scheduled for.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jan 8, 2015 -> 10:07 AM) No offense to Gage, but that doesn't sound like a rock solid source. I never said it was a solid source. I don't personally believe it, but thought it was at least worthy of sharing as an FYI.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Jan 8, 2015 -> 09:56 AM) Ya, he's much worse. They are entirely different. One is out partying all the time (nothing illegal) where as the other has had 1 illegal moment and one much more serious, but he was never convicted moment. None of us know what happened there. Had he been innocent though, than really he has had 1 theft incident (which was stupid but in the grand scheme of things minor) and an incident at school that probably never gets blown out of proportion (had it not been for the 1st incident; however, you can't ignore his stupidity for doing said incident given he has had to live in the shadows of that 1st incident). It really comes out to what is out their in the inside circles regarding his main incident. If everyone really doesn't think there was much smoke their (and I have no earthly idea), than I really wouldn't be worried about his off the field issues. However, if 1 is more of a "coverup" than well, I don't take him.

QUOTE (shipps @ Jan 8, 2015 -> 09:54 AM) Ok well that settles it then. I hope Winston fails so you guys can be wrong in your strong convictions and I can be right. And when we are right, it won't matter to you cause Bears will be winning. Sounds like a win win. I should point out that I am notoriously wrong on Bears QB's so my thoughts are pretty worthless. I tend to be pretty accurate on other teams but I must be overly biased when it comes to Bears QB's.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Jan 8, 2015 -> 09:33 AM) If you actually watched the majority of their games you would see why they aren't really comparable. As a FSU fan, I was shocked and laughed when I saw Ponder and Manuel get drafted in the first round. Manuel in particular I can't tell you how many times would just chuck the ball downfield and have one of his big WRs just go up and grab it. Winston is totally different. He puts balls in windows that are barely there, he throws to spots that get his receivers open instead of waiting for an open man, and he uses his mobility only when necessary. Look, I personally agree with those saying they would not want their team to draft him, because I'm done rooting for him too and wouldn't want him on my NFL team, but for anyone to deny his ability and potential and to use weak comparisons is just being ignorant and willfully blind because of the stuff in his personal life. He's an exceptional talent who was spotted in high school and has actually lived up to the hype. From a pure ability on the field, he is more than worthy of being the #1 pick. Obviously, his off the field baggage changes things, but I just do not understand those who try to deny the talent, other than doing so out of some grudge against him. Sonix...your insights are super valuable and very consistent with what I saw and my thoughts. I really think if it weren't for those off the field issues, Winston would be getting talked about as being a once in a generation type QB prospect. That is how good I think his football skills are. And I agree with you that FSU didn't have a lot of talent around him and the dude still carried his team to a playoff game (and led his team back in the National Championship game last year). He has done it all. It would be absurd to not pick him at 7 if he were available (unless he totally bombs interviews, etc). I don't think he is even very much like Manziel, from the off the field perspective, either.