The Chicago Bears have four games left in the regular season, but some fans and analysts are accusing the team’s top wide receiver of checking out already.
During the Bears’ 45-30 loss to the Green Bay Packers Week 14, rookie quarterback Justin Fields took off on a 20-yard scramble with under 30 seconds remaining in the first half. During the run, Fields is seen motioning to wide receiver Allen Robinson to block Packers cornerback Rasul Douglas. Instead, this happened:
Considering the rookie QB was playing with three cracked ribs, it would have been nice to see his teammates make a better effort to help protect him.
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Twitter Reacts to Questionable Effort From Robinson
Robinson finished with a season-low two catches for 14 yards on six targets against the Packers, but it wasn’t his stat line that irked Bears Twitter. It was the whiff on Douglas that left many wondering what the wide receiver’s priorities were.
Many simply questioned A-Rob’s effort:
Even fans of Robinson specifically seemed to take umbrage with his perceived refusal to block someone.
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Analyst Johnathan Wood of DaBearsBlog noted A-Rob, who becomes a free agent after the regular season, may be more interested in keeping his body in good condition than sacrificing himself for a young quarterback he’ll likely only be playing with for four more games.
Others agreed that Robinson didn’t appear to be giving enough effort catching the ball, either:
Robinson missed over a month with a hamstring injury, and the Week 14 game against the Packers was his first game back in action. It’s possible his hamstring was bothering him — but then he shouldn’t have been out there at all.
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Robinson Has Had a Disappointing 2021 Season
After the game, Fields was asked if the Packers were doing anything special to remove A-Rob from the game, and the young QB said this:
“I think on a couple of third downs they were manning him up with a pretty good safety over the top. Then I missed him on one. I think it was the first or second drive on one touchdown, but no matter, it was my fault. Like I said before, learn from your mistakes and make sure it doesn’t happen.”
“Seasons like this are tough,” Robinson said heading into Week 14, per ESPN. “They’re extremely tough. But being able to compartmentalize all of it, putting certain things to the side and trying to focus on the main thing, continuing to improve, figuring out how to get better, figuring out how to possibly change the result and figuring out how to continue to put yourself in a position to ultimately do what you want to do, and that’s win the game. It’s tough when you have seasons like this. But again, the season’s not over.”
After leading the Bears in receiving yards the previous three seasons, (he caught a career-high 102 passes for 1,250 yards and six touchdowns in 2020), Robinson is now second on the team behind Darnell Mooney with 353 yards on 32 catches. He has caught just one touchdown all season, and it’s not looking like he’ll be back to catch more next year.
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Bears WR Slammed for Letting Justin Fields Hang Out to Dry