I am glad Pace's legend has continued and grown a bit. Contrary to popular myth, he did not invent the pankcake block, but he was a mauler. I remember the great days of Marshall Faulk running left to kill the clock after one massacre or another. (We used to humiliate our opponent.) Pace would knock his man 8-10 yards down field. Marshall could do a lot with a block like that. It is regrettable that Marshall was not on the NFL Network yesterday to comment on Pace's release.
Some folks are objecting to this release, declaring that the Bears have their heads up their yin-yangs. I regret to say it is not so. The Rams had the worst line in football in 2007 and 2008. We played 2007 without Pace. With played 2008 with him. With him or without him, we had the worst line. In 2009 we released Orlando. You don't think that a team with the worst line in football would release a future Hall of Famer--and one of their emblematic players--if he had anything left, do you? Regrettably, Pace did not have anything left.
My first glimpse of Orlando in a Chicago Bear uniform involved Elvis Dummervil running around him like crazy on route to smashing Jay Cutler. Cutler was not a happy man. I did not know much about Elvis at that time. I was horrified that this half-stack of pancakes was making Pace and Cutler miserable. Later I learned that Elvis was quite a pass rusher. Still, if he had faced Pace in his prime, Pace would have squashed him like a bug. In short, I understand Chicago's decision to do this.
This does not change the glum feeling I have right now. Another charter member of The Greatest Show on Turf is now out of the NFL. Issac Bruce retired also at the end of 2009. I don't know if Dre Bly will be back with the 49ers. Torry Holt was released by Jacksonville, and he is trying to catch on with Chicago right now. So far, the Bears have not made a move. I am not absolutely certain, but I am close to certain that this would make London Fletcher and Leondard Little the very last members of our championship team still active in the NFL. If Jeff Zgonina catches on somewhere, he will also be a survivor. All of our offensive players will be gone if Holt doesn't catch on somewhere.
There is something elliptical here. The last time we drafted #1 overall, we took Pace. As we prepare to draft #1 again this year, Pace leaves the league. It is almost like the Land of the Lost. The books must be balanced: One enters, one leaves. I guess I have a sense of optimism that a new epoch is dawning, but there is also a glum reminder that much time has passed since our glory year, and we have little to show for it.
If we draft Tebow, we'll be trading our sorrows and our shame for the joy of the Lord.
