Unless the Bears have some preposterous backroom deal with general manager Ryan Pace in which they’re giving him multiple years to turn the team around, this will be the most high-stakes draft of his career.
The low bar for Pace to save his job is probably 10 wins and the playoffs, and if he wants any shot of clearing it, he needs three instant starters with his first three picks — Nos. 20, 52 and 83 — and a Darnell Mooney-like gem among his fifth-round pick and four sixth-rounders.
That’s what Pace needs, regardless of whether he was willing to admit it in a pre-draft press conference that began with a preemptive apology for avoiding answering any questions.