or even playoff appearances.The NFL’s six highest-paid quarterbacks in 2018 will be spectators this postseason. Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers ($33.5 million) http://www.thebearslockerroom.com/authentic-mike-ditka-jersey , Atlanta’s Matt Ryan ($30 million), Minnesota’s Kirk Cousins ($28 million), San Francisco’s Jimmy Garoppolo ($27.5 million), Detroit’s Matthew Stafford ($27 million) and Oakland’s Derek Carr ($25 million) couldn’t lead their teams to the playoffs.Only Cousins had a winning record (8-7-1), and he failed in a do-or-die game in the regular-season finale. Cousins, who received a three-year, fully guaranteed, $84 million contract, struggled in a 24-10 loss to the Chicago Bears that eliminated the Vikings.Of the top six on the salary list, only Rodgers has won a Super Bowl. Ryan is 4-6 in the playoffs, Stafford is 0-3 and Cousins is 0-1. Carr and Garoppolo haven’t made a postseason start.Among the 12 starting quarterbacks still playing, six are still under their rookie contract and another — Nick Foles — is a backup.Here’s a look at a few more numbers entering wild-card weekend:SETTING RECORDS: New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees broke his own record with a 74.4 completion percentage, the highest in a season in NFL history. … Philadelphia’s Zach Ertz set a record for most receptions by a tight end (116). … San Francisco’s George Kittle set a record for most yards receiving by a tight end (1,377). … Teams combined to score 1,371 total touchdowns, the highest total in a season. … Eight quarterbacks had a passer rating of 100 or higher, most in a season.LAST MAN STANDING: Philadelphia’s Doug Pederson is the only one of seven coaches hired in 2016 still with his team. Adam Gase (23-26, Miami), Chip Kelly (2-14, San Francisco), Hue Jackson (3-36-1, Cleveland), Mike Mularkey (19-17, Tennessee), Dirk Koetter (19-29, Tampa Bay) and Ben McAdoo (13-16 Womens Richard Dent Jersey , Giants) all were fired, some sooner than others.WORST TO FIRST: The Bears (12-4) and Texans (11-5) won their divisions after finishing in last place in 2017. The Eagles won the Super Bowl last year after going worst-to-first in the NFC East.THE NEWCOMERS: Seven teams who weren’t in the playoffs last season qualified this year. All seven — Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Indianapolis, the Los Angeles Chargers and Seattle — will play this weekend. Since the 12-team playoff format was adopted in 1990, at least four teams have qualified for the playoffs in every season that were not in the postseason the previous year.WILD-CARD CHAMPS: Nine teams who played wild-card games have won the Super Bowl, including the 1980 Raiders, 1997 Broncos, 2000 and 2012 Ravens, 2005 Steelers, 2006 Colts, 2007 and 2011 Giants and 2010 Packers.TOUGHEST ROAD: The Eagles and Colts are each trying to become only the third No. 6 seed to win a Super Bowl, joining the 2005 Steelers and 2010 Packers.EASIEST ROAD: Since 1975, 49 of the 86 teams (57 percent) to reach the Super Bowl were No. 1 seeds. In that span, 20 No. 2 seeds, four No. 3, nine No. 4, two No. 5 and two No. 6 made it. Over the past five years, nine of 10 No. 1 seeds played in the Super Bowl. Only the 2016 Cowboys didn’t get in.WELCOME TO THE DANCE: Four quarterbacks will make their postseason debut as starters. Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson, Chicago’s Mitchell Trubisky and Houston’s Deshaun Watson play this weekend. Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes has a bye.STINGY DEFENSE: In three of the past four seasons, the teams with the stringiest regular-season scoring defense have advanced to the Super Bowl. The Bears led the league with the fewest points allowed per game (17.7) this season. As has become the norm at Windy City Gridiron, it’s time to hand out grades for the Chicago Bears’ general manager. This was a good year for Pace and for the Bears, and a lot of critical decisions finally started to pay off. It therefore seems a little harsh to begin with what is probably Pace’s biggest failure to date, the 2015 draft class. However Dan Hampton Jersey , with contracts set to expire, it’s best to rip off the band-aid, assess the injury, and then move on with better news.Previously, I graded Pace in different categories, trying to assess not only how well he did in the draft but also what components went into the grade.This time, somewhat for the sake of variety but mostly for the sake of finality, each player will be graded individually and then an entire grade will be assessed for the class.Individual GradesRound 1: Kevin WhiteThis point has been endlessly rehashed, but let’s just go through the motions. The Bears were transitioning to a 3-4 defense and there were solid defenders available who would help that transition. Pace didn’t go after any of them. So, while there were available players at positions the team needed more, Pace went for the wide receiver prospect who seemed more likely to be a project than an instant contributor. Finally, through a combination of injury and failure to develop (which might be linked), White has been a total bust. Just under fifty players from the 2015 draft class have caught a touchdown, and none of them are named Kevin White. 40 players have more receiving yards.The best that can be said is that Pace drafted to replace the void made by his own roster decisions in moving on from Brandon Marshall. He spent a first-round pick on a project receiver, albeit one with a first-round grade from some draft gurus. The project receiver has has the fewest starts and fewest games played of any first round pick from the 2015 draft. This is a classic bust, and a bust means an F. This isn’t even the “high” F of a student who tried hard and simply could not keep up. This is the type of F reserved for a student who doesn’t even turn in the assignment. Grade: FRound 2: Eddie GoldmanWhen Pace picked at #39 in the draft, he had already invested in the offense. There were edge-rushers available, like Danielle Hunter (who even fit the “athlete” profile that Pace would later reveal himself to covet), and there were other nose tackles available (like Grady Jarrett), but the fact of the matter is that picking up a nose tackle was a solid move. Going after Goldman, who has been a model of reliability, was a smart move. Pace neither traded up nor moved back, but he let the board come to him. Finally, Goldman was not the best defender in the draft available, and he was not the most decisive player in hindsight. But he has been a reliable anchor for the defense, and only seven Pro Bowlers were drafted after him. In other words http://www.thebearslockerroom.com/authentic-brian-urlacher-jersey , drafting Goldman is a classic B--it was a good move for a second-round pick, just not groundbreaking. Grade: BRound 3: Hroniss GrasuInvesting in the offensive line? Usually a good move. Doing it in the third round to pick up a player with known chemistry with your Pro Bowl guard? Even better move. Unfortunately, Grasu was underpowered and it showed. He only started 13 games, fewer than 40 players drafted after him. At the midterm, this pick was a C. Now that Grasu is actually out of Chicago and serving as depth for the Ravens, he’s not even that, because while it’s not true that all picks must work out, it is true that a pair of centers taken one round later have definitely played better than he has, and that he’s been matched by...oh, yeah, forget all other analysis--he’s not even on the team at the end of four years. That’s not a passing grade for a third-rounder. Grade: DRound 4: Jeremy LangfordLangford spent two years on the Bears benefitting from the fact that he was more or less on the field in a system that used running backs well, with a quarterback who leaned on running backs, and before the team discovered that they had a much better running back available. In short, Langford was a marginal contributor for two years before he spent two seasons being waived by the Ravens, the Jets, and the Dolphins. He finally saw a game with the Falcons, but that’s about it. However, he was also a fourth-round pick, and Pace did get utility out of him. While it’s arguable that his production is no better than Grasu’s, it’s not arguable that he was a functional stopgap for the price of a fourth-round pick. Unfortunately, despite being the 7th player taken in the fourth round, he has played less than twenty-three players taken in the fourth round, and it gets worse when you look at starts. While he was not a complete failure, he was never more than a stopgap, and there were better stopgaps to be found. Grade: D+Round 5: Adrian AmosForget Pro Football Focus. Forget a helmet-to-helmet in the wild card game that apparently would not have been called if #38 played for the Rams. Consider this--Amos is a fifth-round safety who has held down the position for 56 starts. He has been one of the leading tacklers on the team for every year he has been on the roster, and has the 38th-highest Career Average Value Womens Leonard Floyd Jersey , per Pro Football Reference, of any player taken in the 2015 draft. He was selected 143rd. I was taken to task to years ago for calling Amos a B- draft selection, and I agree, but not for the reasons listed by others. I think my first grade was too low. If anyone expects more than a reliable player who leaps more than a hundred spots in draft value from a GM, then that person is unreasonable. Grade: ARound 7: Tayo Fabuluje.Fabuluje never contributed, but he was a 7th-round pick. I maintain that getting value after Round 5 is extra credit, nota reasonable expectation. If all draft picks are weighted equally, then, Pace gets a 68%. That’s the kind of D+ grade that makes a teacher wish the student had studied just a little harder and had done just a little bit of extra homework. If picks are weighted so that the earlier rounds carry more weight, then this falls to an F in a hurry.Grades for the ClassTaken collectively, the 2015 draft did little to position the Bears for the future. A decent draft class nets three starters are two contributors, and this one landed a pair of starters (Goldman and Amos) as well as two marginal contributors (Langford and Grasu). One of the highest draft picks the franchise had in a decade was turned into one of the biggest busts in entire class, and so the offense was equally unimproved. There isn’t a pro bowler to be found among them, and the team with the 7th-best draft position actually had one of the least successful classes in the league. To put it bluntly, 2015 set the team back by a year. When the curtain opens on the 2019 season, it is possible that only one player will be left from this draft, and for a team that was supposedly being rebuilt for the long haul, this is bad news. Holistically, an argument could be made to grade Pace on a curve--not against himself or the league but against other GMs who have inherited another manager’s personnel. Excuses could be made that his biggest reach--White--was an effort to please a quarterback who liked big-bodied athlete receivers instead of polished route-runners. Whatever spin is made, the best grade that can be given to the class is a D, and that’s only because of the way the defense has blossomed and the fact that Goldman and Amos are integral parts of that defense. I am going to split the difference.Overall Grade: D-However, Drafting 101 is not the only class that Ryan Pace has taken. Next time, we’ll turn to a subject where this self-professed Pace critic has actually long-defended him, and we’ll see that there are a couple of subjects he has been passing since the beginning.