The Bernstein Brief: With Fox Available, Pace's Honeymoon Ends
By Dan Bernstein-
CBSChicago.com senior columnist
(CBS) Any honeymoon for new Bears general manager Ryan Pace ended with Monday's news that John Fox became available.
Pressure is on the kid to land the obvious top choice, now, particularly considering that Fox's resume includes the easily connected dots of Ernie Accorsi and Sean Payton, the latter of whom Pace described in reverent tones as just the kind of coach he wants.
Not getting this done could be perceived as his first failure, fair or not.
If somebody other than Fox ends up at a press conference, Pace will be telling us that guy was the targeted choice the whole time and that the Bears got their man. What's different now is how he'll have to explain exactly why that's the case, as we can compare and contrast his pick with an established, successful, known commodity.
The Accorsi hire may now be fortuitous for the Bears in a way unforseen when they made it, and Pace may have had an ideal candidate fall into his lap.
His first big chance to remodel the reeling Bears has come earlier than anybody expected.
Dan Bernstein is a co-host of 670 The Score's "Boers and Bernstein Show" in afternoon drive. Follow him on Twitter @dan_bernstein and read more of his columns here.
