NFL coaches and general managers are conditioned to feel pressure in good times and bad.
A year ago prior to the draft, Bears GM Ryan Pace figured to have some cushion after a 12-4 season that earned him the Executive of the Year Award.
Right?
Of course not.
“The pressure feels the same to me,” Pace said. “I feel like the fewer picks and with later picks, the onus is on us as scouts to hit on these picks, and to keep this momentum that we’ve got.”
Through his hits and misses in free agency and the draft, Pace has been a pretty cool customer no matter the situation, unaffected by criticism for past mistakes and the demand that he better get this thing fixed or else.