Bears' Ryan Pace On Ray McDonald Fallout: Don't Want To Be 'Gun-Shy' In Future

(CBS) Taking questions for the first time about the Bears' release in late May of free-agent defensive lineman signee Ray McDonald following another arrest for domestic violence, general manager Ryan Pace said he doesn't want the failure to deter the organization from taking risks in the future.

"With Ray, we gathered as many facts as we could going into that, and I know we've talked about this a lot," Pace said Wednesday at a press conference as the Bears reported for training camp at Olivet Nazarene University. "It was set forth that, 'Hey, if he does one thing (wrong), we're out, we're done.' And that's how it occurred. But what I want to make sure is that doesn't make us gun-shy in the future. We're going to be aggressive in our moves and hey, we acted quickly and swiftly with that. I want to make sure we're not gun-shy, that we're always aggressive moving forward with any roster moves. So with Ray, we did as thorough of research as we could. And hey, that's how it ended up. We moved quickly, and we're past it."

The Bears had signed McDonald in March after the 49ers released him in December following a series of off-field issues.

On May 25, McDonald was arrested following allegations that he assaulted his ex-fiancee while she held their two-month-old child. It was his third known case of violence toward a woman since August. The Bears released him a few days alter.

Pace's claim that the Bears did "thorough research" before signing McDonald rings hollow to many, with critics pointing out that the team didn't talk to the victim.

Bears chairman George McCaskey has expressed regret for the signing after initially saying in March that the team didn't talk to the victim because she'd have "bias."