ROBINSON: ‘WE KNOW CAPABILITY WE HAVE’
Receiver confident in 2020 Bears, despite some uneven play early on
It was a tough play, but it’s one Bears receiver Allen Robinson usually makes.
On a 20-yard back-shoulder pass down the right sideline from Nick Foles in the first quarter Thursday against the Buccaneers, a tightly covered Robinson turned away from cornerback Carlton Davis to get his hands on the ball at the Bucs’ 16-yard line — only to inadvertently deflect it to Davis for an interception.
Davis returned the pick 34 yards to midfield, and the Bucs scored five plays later on a two-yard pass from Tom Brady to Mike Evans for a 10-0 lead.
Undaunted, Robinson responded with a 13-yard catch on the Bears’ first touchdown drive and a sevenyard catch moments later on another touchdown drive that gave the Bears a 14-13 halftime lead. The rally enabled the Bears to come back for a 20-19 victory.
‘‘First and foremost, I’ll definitely take a lot of the blame for that [interception],’’ Robinson said. ‘‘I have to continue to make more plays. I know I gotta play better than I did down the stretch for us.’’
Despite the mishap on the interception, Robinson finished with 10 receptions for 90 yards. He also gained a bit of revenge against Davis. On a third-and-seven play in the fourth quarter, Robinson drew a pass-interference penalty on Davis for a 19-yard gain. Instead of having to punt, the Bears drove for a 47yard field goal by Cairo Santos that gave them a 17-16 lead with 10:34 left.
Robinson found a way to make an impact, but it has been a weird season for him. When he didn’t get a contract extension before the season, he passive-aggressively vented on social media, which made the issue public.
The Bears’ offense has been erratic, and coach Matt Nagy already has switched from Mitch Trubisky to Foles at quarterback.
And Robinson is on an uncanny run of bad luck with balls that should be his but turn into interceptions. The play against the Bucs was the third time in five games that has happened.
Against the Giants in Week 2, cornerback James Bradberry made a fabulous play to steal the ball from Robinson with his back to the quarterback.
Against the Falcons in Week 3, Robinson appeared to catch a 21-yard touchdown pass from Foles, but cornerback Darqueze Dennard stole that from him. More often than not, the ‘‘held ball’’ goes to the offensive player, but replay officials didn’t see it that way.
It’s no surprise the even-keeled Robinson has persevered through the adversity to be on pace for his best season with the Bears. Through five games, he has 35 receptions for 421 yards and two touchdowns. He’s on pace for 112 receptions for 1,347 yards and six touchdowns.
And the Bears’ offense is in position to improve with Foles having taken over for Trubisky.
‘‘Once [Foles] gets going and gets in a rhythm, I think everybody sees what he’s capable of in terms of the rhythm we have and how we can move the ball down the field,’’ Robinson said.
‘‘There were times [against the Bucs] where we didn’t have any penalties or any second-and- extremelylongs or third-and- extremely-longs. We moved the ball and made it seem pretty effortless, guys just making a play. We know the capability we have. I feel like we are trending in the right direction.’’