Former Bears general manager Ryan Pace was hired by the Falcons as a senior personnel executive Thursday.
Pace, who worked with Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot with the Saints for 13 seasons, was fired Jan. 10 along with coach Matt Nagy.
The Bears selected quarterback Mitchell Trubisky over Patrick Mahomes (10th to Chiefs) and Deshaun Watson (12th to Texans). Trubisky was released and played as a backup with the Bills last season. Mahomes and Watson would go on to star in the NFL, and Mahomes has guided the Chiefs to a Super Bowl title.
The Bears tried to correct the Trubisky mistake last year by trading up to get former Georgia and Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields (Harrison High).
With the Falcons, who have to implement a succession plan to eventually replace quarterback Matt Ryan, Pace will work alongside former general managers Ruston Webster (Tennessee) and Phil Emery (Bears).
Pace landed the Bears’ general manager position in 2015.
After the Bears made the postseason for the first time since 2010, Pace was named executive of the year in 2018.
He held positions in pro scouting and was a director of personnel before being named general manager in 2015.
While the Bears missed on Trubisky, they did select several players from Georgia during Pace’s regime, including linebacker Roquan Smith at eighth overall in 2018.
Most of the Georgia picks didn’t work out, which included defensive end Leonard Floyd (ninth overall in 2016), wide receiver Riley Ridley (fourth round, 2019) and wide receiver Javon Wims, (seventh round, 2018). The Falcons have not traditionally selected players from Georgia.
The Bears went to the playoffs twice under Pace, but without a quarterback they never were serious NFC title contenders. They went 12-4 in 2018 and were eliminated in the wild-card round and went to the playoffs as an 8-8 team in 2020 and were eliminated in the wild-card round.
Last season, when they played Fields behind a porous offensive line and before he was ready to play, the Bears went 6-11.
Pace’s biggest move with the Bears was trading for linebacker Khalil Mack, which helped to build a strong defense and power the 2018 team.
After being fired, Pace issued a statement.
“I am proud to have poured absolutely everything into making the Chicago Bears a better football team every single day since first stepping foot into Halas Hall,” Pace said in the statement. “From the expansion of Halas Hall, to every staff hire, every roster move, every scouting trip, every draft pick was with a championship vision in mind. ... We accomplished a lot, most notably an NFC North title, two playoff berths, 19 Pro Bowlers and 6 All-Pro selections.”
Pace essentially replaces Steve Sabo, who was the team’s pro personnel director. Sabo and the Falcons parted ways Feb. 7.
Sabo had been with the Falcons in varying capacities since 2010. He previously worked 12 seasons for the Cleveland Browns.
Fontenot discussed how the Falcons were reluctant to make sweeping changes after he was named general manager in January 2021. But several changes have been made since.
“Sometimes it just looks a little, small things just look different to you,” Fontenot said recently at the Senior Bowl. “And you kind of have to learn a little bit of a different language to go through that process. And I didn’t want to change too much right away. This staff has been working through it for a long time. So you have to adapt yourself a little bit. But now this year, we’ve adapted the process a lot and made a lot of changes. So, we feel very comfortable where we are right now.”
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