DABEARSDABOMB

The individual who scooped the GM hiring had this to say about today's interview with Bowles:

Since we are going back in time, here is the thread from when Emery was hired. Maybe it is a good thing. I am complaining about this move but generally liked the Emery move at the time, haha. In theory the concerns I had about Emery are the exact opposite of the concerns I have about Pace. http://www.talkbears.com/forums/index.php?...aded&start= Of course if I were to pat myself on the back, it would be that the pro personnel moves are what really got him in trouble (along with the coaching decision).

I'm not very intrigued by him. I don't like what he did with the Bills. To be honest, I have a sour taste in my mouth about the Saints in general (and people associated with them) from bountygate and everything else. Than Kromer comes in here and his issues, etc. I think it might be why I am still having a harder time getting on board with Pace.

I have never gotten the feeling that Gabriel goes out of his way to be negative about the Bears. Hub certainly does but I don't get the same feel out of Gabriel. What was Hub's background? Did he ever work for the Bears?

Agree with everything you said and at the end of the day, I like the fact that Bears ownership realized they needed to make change when they did, they acted swiftly and they brought in a guy from a winning organization. Hopefully Pace can add to his superbowl ring collection!

There are some believe that Ballard over-stepped his grounds and asked for too much control and that is why we went with Pace though.

Multiple reports that Pace has been assured he is completely in charge of football operations.

Completely agree with you and I think the fact that he was more adapt at pointing it out (because of his past involvement might be why he wasn't hired...which is really disappointing). Bernstein has said it was more that Ballard spent too much time on organization and not enough on roster where Pace knocked it out and spent his time on roster. My problem is, no GM in the world can do it on their own. We need as many bright football people in the building as possible. Just hearing some of this stuff makes me cringe because in theory, Ballard has seen how it is done in halas and how it is done elsewhere and essentially knows what is broke in Chicago and could legitimately offer ways of fixing it. Not knocking Pace, just disappointing if it was the fact that Ballard was more negative and more pointed about what needed to change internally (in addition to roster...but maybe not as focused on roster). Part of me says the roster is largely a work in process anyway which starts with the draft, so how much time should you really spend on it other than maybe giving your opinion of systems that you like, your general view of the players, etc, and clearly an opinion of what went wrong on the field last year. I dont' want someone coming in and making an imaginary roster or something. That is a bunch of fluff anyway. I just picture Pace going...see I trade Cutler for Rodgers and than do this and that and bam...superbowl contender. Not really but kind of like that and McCaskey and Phillips going, oh we can get Rodgers...oh yeah that would be great. All that said, hopefully Pace has full control and can bring in new football people. I imagine that we'll see a lot of changes in the scouting departments, etc. A lot of legacy people on board. Doesn't mean they are all bad but Pace is going to have to bring in his people.

If you want to find a scary comment, look at this one: Greg Gabriel: "Chris Ballard knew where the problems were in the organization, and what he told the Bears on how to fix it, the Bears didn't like"...

Now this gets me excited (maybe, while never having a direct title, he was involved in the draft) Peggy Kusinski ‏@peggykusinski 2m2 minutes ago Per #Saints media new #Bears Pace responsible for unearthing guys like jermon bushrod, jahri evans, marques colston and pierre thomas.

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 anyone doubting Ernie's involvement:

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. Also, funny thing...supposedly Bears had Bowles waiting while they were finalizing deal with Pace so Bowles had no idea. Basically the Bears walked him into the interview and said, apologies about the wait, we just hired our new GM Ryan Pace (introduced him to Pace) and than let Pace lead the interview. Hope Pace was ready!

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:

Look at the Saints off-season last year. They, along with the Bears (and Broncos) were the winners of the off-season. How do those moves (similar to the Bears moves) look now? Look at the Saints cap situation (hint: Its awful). I see a lot of red flags. Sure, you interviewed amazing, but what is your track record, your skill-set, etc. Again, I'll trust Ernie but there are some things about Pace that I'm not a fan of. There are other things I like and clearly some strong football people in New Orleans thought the world of him (numerous promotions and a lot of credit and strong recommendations).

In theory, last year he almost essentially was the GM. Don't know if that is good or bad. Saints got a lot of off-season pub for their moves but on the field performance wasn't good. What worries me is his lack of scouting background. He really has been focused on pro scouting for the bulk of his career. I really don't like that. Prove me wrong Pace.

I am now seeing if this same person had any other tidbits. He either went out on a limb and got lucky or really has some good info.

Interesting. At least he comes from an organization that has won recently. I trust Ernie's involvement in this process. Sounds like he really knocked the Bears socks off. Hopefully he truly is the right man for the job. The quotes from the Saints people, including Sean Payton, all sound extremely encouraging.

Who do you propose? DeCosta isn't interested and McGloughan has his own issues. Yes he had a great background (but did have other issues) but that doesn't necessarily make him the right fit for this job. His best role is as an adviser and in reality he took a higher end adviser role as Bruce Allen is still going to be significantly involved in calling the shots in Washington.

Per Jason LaFoncora (NFL Network)

Per Ed Werder

WSCR reporting that Ballard is still in Chicago.

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.

Word on the street is no one really wants the Jets job. Why, partly because of questionmarks as to how much control they would have, but also because it has turned into a revolving door position where you don't get the time necessary to put your stamp on an organization and prove whether you are worth it. It is why I said that no matter what happens with our next hire, we are pretty much going to have to give them the extreme benefit of the doubt, let them hire a 2nd coach, give them a 4-5 year initial run, etc. If we don't, we will turn into the Raiders / Browns and now Jets where we will relatively consistently only be able to attract substandard talents / guys who have been bridesmaids so much that they are finally desperate enough to take any job with the GM title....and once you get into that slope, it is tough to get out off (and much more dependent on luck...even though all moves are to some extent dependent on some luck).