Bears wide receiver Allen Robinson (12) has 26 receptions for 271 yards (10.4 avg.) and one touchdown this season. | David Banks/AP Photos
While Broncos general manager George Paton had a Mack-like commodity in Miller, he also had something that Ryan Pace does not have — time. Paton is in his first season as the Broncos’ GM. Pace is in his seventh with the Bears.
Eight-time Pro Bowl pass rusher Von Miller expressed surprise when the Broncos traded him to the Rams for second- and third-round draft picks Monday. But the deal wasn’t all that shocking in today’s NFL landscape. Trade deadline deals — historically a baseball thing — have become a reality in the NFL as well.
One move often begets in another in these situations, so the Broncos’ big move puts just a little more focus on general manager Ryan Pace and the Bears heading into Tuesday’s trade deadline. The Bears are 3-5 after Sunday’s 33-22 loss to the 49ers at Soldier Field — and looking less and less like a playoff team as the defense withers while Justin Fields develops step by step.
If they were a baseball team, they’d be targeted as sellers, like the 2021 Cubs. But in the second floor offices of Halas Hall, Pace and right-hand man Joey Laine more likely think they’re the Braves. That might be their only hope.
The Bears have tradeable commodities — not only spare parts like backup quarterbacks Nick Foles and Andy Dalton, but key contributors such as wide receiver Allen Robinson, defensive end Akiem Hicks, outside linebacker Khalil Mack, tight end Jimmy Graham, linebacker Danny Trevathan and maybe even running back David Montgomery.
But while Broncos general manager George Paton — a former Bears pro personnel honcho — had a Mack-like commodity in Miller, he also had something that Pace does not have — time. Paton is in his first season as the Broncos’ GM. Pace is in his seventh.
It must be excruciating for Pace. He desperately needs cherished draft picks. After trading his first- and fourth-round picks in 2022 to the Giants to move up last year’s draft to get Fields, he has just two picks in the first four rounds of the 2022 draft and five picks overall (a second, a third, two fifths and a sixth). But he might need victories and a playoff berth even more. What does he do?
Maybe something low level, but probably not a white-flag level sell-off that would signal a rebuild, even with his defense showing signs of advancing age. Both Pace and coach Matt Nagy probably don’t have time to take another step back.
Nagy spoke only in generalities when asked if he had spoken to Pace — and chairman George McCaskey and team president Ted Phillips, for that matter — about the trade deadline.
“We always communicate. We’re always discussing the status of our team every week, and where we’re at,” Nagy said. “Obviously with the trade deadline coming up, we’ll go through different scenario and situations.”
But at 3-5, Nagy has bigger problems.
“For me and my role, we are completely entrenched in the Steelers right now,” Nagy said. “I’ll be in on discussions with Ryan, as those guys [in the personnel department] go through where we stand. That’s always a fluid conversation — which is like that for probably every coach and GM and ownership at this point.
“I have a ton of belief in the partnership that Ryan and I have working together. And him being the general manager and going through all that [trade-deadline] stuff, I know they’re holding all that down. Ryan has been phenomenal with me in trying to allow me to be the best head coach I can be, and take things off my plate. I’m always there to help when I can and give opinions and suggestions. I think that’s what’s most important.
It’s a difficult situation for everyone at Halas Hall — a hole they dug all by themselves. At 3-5, with a defense that has dropped to 15th in yards and tied for 20th in points, a slowly developing Justin Fields in the 32nd-ranked offense in the NFL is not only Pace’s and Nagy’s best hope, but maybe their only hope. Trade deadline be damned.
