A year later, were the Bears duped in the Trubisky swap? Same answer: Who cares?

It has been a year since Bears general manager Ryan Pace was diagnosed with a virulent strain of idiocy. You’d think time would have softened the opinions of critics who thought he was a fool for trading up one spot to draft quarterback Mitch Trubisky.

Not even close.

A year after Pace landed the player he dearly wanted, some — many? — Bears fans are still bashing him for his delivery method. I would very much like to tell them to get over it, but I’d have an easier time telling a boulder to move on.

On Thursday, after the Bears had selected Georgia linebacker Roquan Smith with the eighth pick overall, I received more emails from people who wanted to know if Pace had recovered any of his lost brain cells. Their frustration had nothing to do with the selection of Smith. Questioning that choice would have been like questioning whether a Mercedes is a good brand. Smith was the smart, low-risk pick. If he turns out to be a bust, well, sometimes a luxury car rolls off the assembly line with a limp.

The public debate still rages over whether Pace needed to trade two third-round picks and a fourth-rounder to the 49ers last year to move up one spot to get Trubisky with the second overall pick.

It’s a great sports discussion, the kind that keeps radio stations in low-testosterone-drug ads for years.

The most important thing — the thing that gets lost too easily — is that Pace did everything he could to get the player he believed could lead the Bears to a Super Bowl title. That’s really all that matters, isn’t it? The alternative, that Pace not follow his convictions, seems more wrong to me than taking that large risk.

To be a proponent of the move, you don’t even have to trust that Pace did the right thing by trading up. The 49ers very well could have been leading the Bears to believe there was another team that wanted to move up and take the No. 2 overall spot. But if you loved Trubisky, if you thought he was a potential All-Pro, wouldn’t you have done everything to ensure he’d be a Bear?

And wouldn’t the franchise’s dreadful history of quarterbacks make you even more determined to get your man?

That’s where Pace still isn’t getting enough credit. You pay a general manager to believe deeply in the players he drafts. But then you tell him not to believe so much? That’s hard to understand, especially when there’s no definitive proof the 49ers were bluffing.

Many of us have been programmed to think the Bears will always, given the opportunity, do the wrong thing. Thus, it would naturally follow that Pace gave away draft picks to get somebody he could have gotten without giving anything away.

And, yet, I still like the conviction in it.

The Bears didn’t have a third-round pick going into Friday’s portion of the draft, and that was being viewed in some corners as a severed limb. Perhaps it is. But if Trubisky ends up being great, no one will care if a few draft picks were sacrificed to get him.

That we’re having the same argument we were having a year ago says (a) people still believe the 49ers hoodwinked Pace and (b) the jury is still very much out as to whether Trubisky will be a star.

If I had to synopsize all the emails I’ve received about the Trubisky pick over the last year, they would fall into three categories:

— The 49ers embarrassed the Bears, and Trubisky will be a bust.

— The 49ers embarrassed the Bears, but maybe Trubisky will be great.

— Can I borrow Pace’s hair Friday night?

It doesn’t help that Pace’s first-round draft record is spotty at best. He might get more benefit of the doubt today if wide receiver Kevin White, his 2015 first-round pick, hadn’t turned into one big injury.

And despite the Bears’ enthusiasm for Trubisky, we really don’t know if he’ll be a successful quarterback. There simply isn’t enough evidence yet. There were bright spots last season but not big improvement. We’ll need to see healthy progress in 2018.

If we don’t, then you’ll have every right to utter an “uh-oh” or two or 100. But until then, what’s the point of wringing your hands over a year-old trade? And over a third-round pick or two? Here are the Bears’ most-recent third-round picks: Jonathan Bullard, Hroniss Grasu, Will Sutton, Brandon Hardin, Chris Conte and Major Wright.

OK?

Worry about Trubisky, the first-round pick. That should be more than enough to keep you busy.

Sun-Times sports columnists Rick Morrissey and Rick Telander are co-hosts of a new podcast called “The Two Ricks: Unfiltered.” Don’t miss their candid, amusing takes on everything from professional teams tanking to overzealous sports parents and more. Download and subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts and Google Play, or via RSS feed.