Win or lose vs. Browns, big-picture outlook the same for GM Ryan Pace

The Bears have beaten the Steelers and lost to the 49ers this season and are 0-7 as favorites in three seasons under coach John Fox. So we know anything can happen Sunday against the winless Browns.

Losing to an 0-14 team would be the ultimate indignity in a third consecutive disappointing season under Fox. But that’s all it would be. This game won’t be a referendum on general manager Ryan Pace any more than a victory would be validation. A loss to the Browns only would move the Bears one step closer to a coaching change. Win or lose, this game changes nothing about where the Bears are — except maybe in the draft order — or where they are headed.

Or, to put it more succinctly: Win or lose, the Bears aren’t the Browns.

The Bears are bad, but the Browns are in their own special category of bad. They’re 1-29 under second-year coach Hue Jackson and have won only four of their last 51 games. They’re 15 seasons removed from their last playoff berth. They’ve had two owners, seven GMs, six coaches and 19 starting quarterbacks in the last 10 seasons.

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The Bears have had one owner (a problem in itself, but that’s another story for another day), three GMs, three coaches and 12 starting quarterbacks in the same span. And the 12 quarterbacks are a little misleading. Only twice have the Bears actually benched their No. 1 quarterback.

In other words, the Bears are still another GM or two, another coach or two and at least another quarterback or two away from approaching the Browns’ realm.

The quarterback quandary, in particular, illustrates the difference: The Browns not only have whiffed on three first-round quarterbacks (Brady Quinn, Brandon Weeden and Johnny Manziel), but they already appear ready to move on from 2017 second-round pick DeShone Kizer. They also passed on Carson Wentz in 2016 and Deshaun Watson in 2017.

Pace’s big error is free agent Mike Glennon, a move that cost the Bears’ salary-cap space and a few weeks of development for rookie Mitch Trubisky — both correctable, survivable errors. The Bears anointed Glennon the undisputed starter the day he signed and resolutely proclaimed this a redshirt year for Trubisky before benching Glennon after four games and turning to Trubisky. For the Bears, that’s a lightning-quick admission of a mistake that Pace and Fox (or whoever initiated that move) someday might get credit for.

Pace passed on Watson, too, but he drafted Trubisky, who might end up as good or better than Watson with an upgraded supporting cast and still could be a winning franchise quarterback if he’s not. There’s a long way to go, but Trubisky’s rookie numbers are better than those of the Rams’ Jared Goff last season — in victories (3-0), completion percentage (59.8-54.6), yards per attempt (6.7-5.3), yards per game (182.2-155.6) and passer rating (77.8-63.6). That doesn’t mean he’ll take the same step Goff took, but it sure doesn’t indicate he won’t.

Pace has struggled in free agency, but he has done well enough in the draft to earn the right to see whether Trubisky can take that next, huge step — and whether he can find the right coach to get him there. Fox wasn’t foisted on him, but he was the wrong guy at the right time.

Now the dynamic has changed. With a potential franchise quarterback in place, Pace has a better idea of what he needs and what he wants in a coach. He deserves the chance to find the right guy at the right time.

And nothing that happens Sunday against the Browns will change that. Enjoy the game.

Follow me on Twitter @MarkPotash.

Email: mpotash@suntimes.com