"New Year's Day is supposed to be a day to sit on the couch, eat, drink and watch some college football and the Winter Classic. However, it was a very busy afternoon for the Chicago Bears at Halas Hall. After announcing that they had fired head coach John Fox, team president Ted Phillips announced a new three year extension for general manager Ryan Pace that has him signed through the 2021 season. «He's identified value at every level of the draft. And last but not least, got great character,» Phillips said, per Kevin Fishbain of The Athletic. «Great work ethic. He knows he needs to improve, as we all do. But we see the progress in our roster and we're confident that that growth is gonna continue. So far all those reasons, we believe Ryan is the man to lead our football operations into the future.» Some may wonder why a general manager who has a record of just 14-34 over three years would get an extension, but the move makes perfect sense. Pace has done well in the draft by selecting guys like Tarik Cohen, Leonard Floyd, Jordan Howard, Eddie Jackson and Mitch Trubisky and deserves more time to work on his vision. Plus, no coach worth a grain of salt will want to take the Bears job knowing the guy who hired him could be on the way out. Now Pace and whoever he gets to replace Fox will be on the same time clock. «I need to point the finger at myself as well. Our record is a reflection on me as well. But I feel good about where we're at right now,» Pace said. «I feel much better about where we're at right now than at this time last year and that starts with the quarterback position. We have a 23-year-old quarterback that we feel very good about that we need to build around. We need to build upon that core and fortunately we have the resources to do that.» We will focus more on who Pace could hire as the next coach of the Bears as the week progresses. "
