The bears are not going up against franchises like Patriots, Steelers, Pats, Cowboys. They will be competing in this hiring cycle with even crappier franchises.
I buy zero truth to that report. No - Harbaufh isn’t probably jumping on with Pace but that has nothing to do with Pace and everything to do with Harbaugh wanting his own guy as GM (especially after the Balke situation).
Bears will be one of most attractive jobs out there - right there with the Raiders. Bears have history of giving coaches leashes and treating people with respect etc. They are major market.
And if the report was true - It would be less about Pace the GM and more about worry of job security (ie if he got canned next year what does that mean for HC who now gets a new boss).
But Bears can’t be that stupid. If they are keeping Pace, they got to be all in - either moving him into that president role or whatever or giving him an extension so his timeline aligns with the coach). If they aren’t doing that, than they need to can him. You can’t pick the middle ground.