Wide receiver Allen Robinson may be entering the final four games of his tenure with the Chicago Bears as he’s set to be an unrestricted free agent this offseason.
While he says it’s not something he’s focusing on at the moment, Robinson said he is determined to finish out the season as best he can with the Bears.
“For me, it’s not about that,” Robinson said, via Colleen Kane of the Chicago Tribune. “It’s about me continuing to try to get better each and every week, honestly, and be the receiver I want to be. I want to finish strong no matter what the circumstances are — contract or no contract. … I feel like I’ve been able to put together a couple decent years, and I want to finish this as strong as I can. That’s the No. 1 focus and No. 1 thing on my mind.”
Robinson has routinely put up strong seasons of play despite playing with quarterbacks that would never be confused for chasing Hall of Fame status. Robinson has at least 750 yards receiving in each of his last five (mostly) full seasons. Two of those years have resulted in 1,000-yard campaigns. That’s despite playing with Blake Bortles, Mitchell Trubisky, Nick Foles and Chase Daniel.
Robinson has lost a lot of games in his seven seasons in the NFL. The AFC Championship team in Jacksonville came in a season in which he played just one game before tearing his ACL. The 2018 Bears are the only team he was an active part of that has finished with a better than .500 record. A promising 5-1 start this year and cratered into a six-game losing streak and outside of the playoffs as it currently stands.
The 2016 Jaguars lost nine straight games and Robinson says that experience helped him focus on only the things he can control.
“I feel like (in 2016) it was a lot of stuff that was going on around me that I didn’t really have too much control of that I was affected by,” Robinson said. “I let that affect me. I let that weigh me down. And after that season, I said I’ll never let that happen again. I don’t care what goes on around me. I’m going to make sure I’m improving myself no matter what the circumstances are. … Each and every week that’s how I’m going to approach it. I’m not going to worry about what everybody else has going on. I’m not going to feel sorry for myself. None of that.”
Robinson has 77 catches for 904 yards through 12 games this season for the Bears. He’s on pace to eclipse 100 receptions for the first time in his career and the 1,205 yards he’s on pace for would trail only the 1,400 yards he had for the Jaguars in 2015.