Allen Robinson keeps rolling, surpasses 100 catches on the season

On a do-or-die play, the Bears went to their best weapon.

On fourth-and-5 early in the third quarter, the Bears were too far outside field-goal range, but too far down field to punt – so they went for it on fourth down. While the final score of Sunday’s win over the Jacksonville Jaguars reflected a blowout, at the time it was a three-point game.

Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky went to his offense’s most reliable asset: receiver Allen Robinson. The two connected on an 8-yard pass to keep the possession alive. Trubisky later capped the drive off with a 6-yard touchdown run. The Bears pushed their lead to 10 points and never looked back.

It might’ve been Robinson’s biggest catch in Sunday’s 41-17 win over Jacksonville. It was one of many, though. Robinson caught 10 passes for 103 yards Sunday.

“They gave us a good look, they brought a little pressure,” Trubisky said. “I just faded to the left and A-Rob beat the guy up on a nice slant route.”

Robinson keeps setting the bar higher.

For the first time in his career, the 27-year-old has caught 100 passes in a season. Once again he was arguably the best player on the field Sunday, and he’s a huge reason why the Bears now have an opportunity to reach the postseason.

He set his new career high in Jacksonville against the team that drafted him and where he played the first four seasons of his career.

“For me, I try not to get too much into the emotional side of it, especially with it being the season,” Robinson said. “After the season, looking back at it, I think that it’ll definitely be something cool.”

Robinson had already locked up his third-career 1,000-yard season. Now he adds his first 100-catch season. His previous career-high was last season’s 98 catches.

That level of usage shows just how valuable he is to this Bears’ offense. So does the fourth-down play Sunday.

“You get to a point where you realize a player like him that makes these plays and does so well to help our team out, the confidence keeps growing with these guys,” Bears coach Matt Nagy said. “He’s a big part of the success.”

After Sunday’s win, Robinson now has 100 catches for 1,213 yards and six touchdowns. His career-high 1,400 receiving yards is likely out of reach unless he has a monster game next week against Green Bay.

“I still thought I could’ve played better,” Robinson said Sunday after the game. “But it was fun coming out here and getting the win, I will say that. Seeing all the Bears fans that we had in the stadium, it was exciting.”