Over the past year, the Chicago Bears have had plenty of reasons to laugh at the Minnesota Vikings. The Bears won their first NFC North championship since 2018 in part due to a last-second win in Minneapolis last November.
While Ryan Poles has turned Chicago into a contender and found a franchise quarterback in Caleb Williams, the Vikings are in the middle of a quarterback competition and breaking in new general manager Nolan Teasley.
Things could change when the two teams meet twice during the 2026 season, but until then, the Vikings added one more thing to the pile on Tuesday when they reportedly added former Bears GM Ryan Pace to their front office.
According to ESPN’s Kevin Seifert on Tuesday, Pace, who served as the Bears' general manager from 2015 to 2021, has been hired by Minnesota as a football advisor.
While Teasley is also reportedly hiring his former Seattle Seahawks front office mate, Azzaam Kapadia, as the Vikings’ new director of pro scouting, the Pace hire is more controversial and should make for good fodder for their divisional rivals after his failed stint in Chicago.
Former Chicago Bears GM Ryan Pace carries plenty of red flags on his way to the Minnesota Vikings
Pace’s time with the Bears wasn’t all bad, as it featured a division title, but there are plenty of reasons why he’s an infamous figure. Aside from the 48-65 record, Pace had one of the biggest whiffs in NFL history, passing Patrick Mahomes to select Mitchell Trubisky in the 2017 NFL Draft.
While passing on Mahomes was egregious enough, Pace also bid against himself, trading three picks to the San Francisco 49ers to trade up one spot and select Trubisky with the second overall pick.
This was the tip of the iceberg when it came to poor quarterback decisions in a tenure that also saw Pace sign Mike Glennon to a three-year, $45 million contract in 2017 and trade a fourth-round pick for Nick Foles during the 2020 season.
But finding a quarterback wasn’t the only problem that Pace encountered in Chicago. Kevin White, Leonard Floyd, and Adam Shaheen were just some of the draft busts that were brought in during his tenure, and his head coaching hires of John Fox and Matt Nagy didn’t have much success outside of the 2018 season.
The Bears also were all in at all times under Pace, most notably trading for Khalil Mack in 2018. The move brought short-term success but came at an exorbitant cost, with Chicago sending two first-round picks, a third-round pick, and a sixth-round pick to the Oakland (now Las Vegas) Raiders in the trade and signing Mack to a six-year, $141 million contract.
While he tried to save his job after selecting Justin Fields in the 2021 draft, Pace was fired after that season and spent the last few years in the Atlanta Falcons front office, working his way up to vice president of football operations and player personnel.
When the Falcons hired former Bears assistant GM Ian Cunningham as their new general manager, firing Pace was one of the first moves under his watch, planting another red flag on his trail to Minnesota.
The move is even more interesting considering Ryan Grigson is also in the Vikings front office after a similarly disastrous stint with the Indianapolis Colts. But Pace’s role doesn’t seem to be a major one, bringing the question of what exactly he’ll do under Teasley’s watch.
In any event, Teasley continues to add people to the Vikings front office. But the addition of Pace gives a little extra fuel to Bears fans who may already feel they have a leg up on Minnesota going into next season.
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