Assessing Bears' trade for Mitch Trubisky: 14 players, 6 teams, 1 franchise quarterback
CHICAGO - For Ryan Pace, the trade was always about the return more than the price.
Last April, the Bears and their general manager needed a new franchise quarterback. It was long overdue.
A quarterback who would give the team direction and shape its identity.
A quarterback who would position the Bears for sustained success, as Drew Brees did for Pace's Saints more than a decade ago.
A quarterback who represented hope, one promising enough for ownership to continue believing in the NFL's youngest GM during a rebuilding effort that still has not produced progress in the standings.
So with the clock ticking on the 49ers and the second pick in the 2017 draft, Pace traded four picks to them in exchange for one, unwilling to risk losing out to another quarterback-needy team
