Bears mailbag: Will Allen Robinson return for 2022 season?

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You've got Bears questions, and we've got Bears answers. Thanks to everyone who submitted a question to myself and Ken Davis for this week's Under Center Podcast, and keep an eye on our Twitter page for the next mailbag if you want to get a question in next time.

What is your level of confidence that Allen Robinson is in Chicago next season? Is it most dependent on the money he's offered, success of the team or the play of the quarterback? -@moore2score

“I don't know, I'd say 40 percent, I'm not, or 30 percent, I'm not ruling it out entirely, but I'm not overly confident either. It's going to boil down to the money. Right? If the Bears had paid Allen Robinson what he wanted at the negotiating table, he'd have a long term contract already. We’ve said before,we're not at the negotiating table. But from an outsider's perspective, that does seem to be the case. Now, we all know that the salary cap was totally crazy this year because of COVID-19 pandemic affecting ticket sales and all of this. And the salary cap went down and nobody's preparing for that. So the only reason I am a little bit confident is with the salary cap going back up next year, maybe there is a chance that they find the money for Allen Robinson.” - Alex Shapiro

Is it terrible optics for Justin Fields to be working out with Deshaun Watson? - @mgeskepartners1

“It ain't the best optics, to say the least. I mean, it's like this if he can gain what Deshaun Watson got from going from Clemson to the pros, accuracy was still one of those questions. Regardless of how clutch and how great Deshaun Watson was against our tide, Tony, Roll Tide, it was still a question about him being accurate and to see just what he did last year. But we see what he's done since he's been in the pros. That first rookie season year, where he tore his ACL up and was like, whoa, he was taking the NFL by storm. If hanging out with Deshaun Watson can help Justin Fields acclimate to the NFL like that, I'm kind of with it. But the fact that Deshaun Watson has all of these accusations out against him, you don't really want to see your quarterback hanging out with them… Hopefully whatever happened with those ladies, it's all brought to light and brought to justice… That's pertinent and that's important that we get to the bottom of that situation.” - Ken Davis

Eddie Goldman? - @craftbeersochi

“Did y’all see Eddie Goldman pushing that sled cart? I would say Eddie Goldman pushing the sled means he’s gonna show up, and it’s telling me the run stopper is in the house.” - Ken

“That looks like a dude who’s getting ready to play football… It has been a very encouraging sign. These workout videos are coming out a few times a week now from that SPEAR training facility, which is very close to Halas Hall. It's like fifteen minutes away from Halas Hall.
Dude, looks like he's getting into game shape.” - Alex

Let's hear about the impact of Tarik the under 6 foot freak whose loss last year was a pretty big deal. -@CessPoolBoy

“Hopefully we'll see a little bit more of that creative play calling. I think that's something that was sorely missed from Matt Nagy's offense last year. I mean, the first two seasons, we saw a lot of very fun, very creative plays that kind of had defenses guessing, especially in the red zone. And Tarik Cohen adds a little bit of that element back into the offense. You can also run more personnel groupings with two running backs, which I think we will see and could be very dangerous, whether it is David Montgomery and Tarik Cohen, or Tarik Cohen and Damien Williams or any combination of those three. Really, that adds a little wrinkle that stresses out front sevens like we were talking about, because now you have linebackers trying to figure out, well, who do we cover and what's our what's our assignments? And you can exploit mismatches that way. And then having a dynamic player like Tarik Cohen, who is one of the fastest players on the field whenever he's on the field, all of that puts stress on a defense. It opens things up. When you have a weapon like him, it helps.” - Alex

Is Sam Mustipher our starting center going forward? - @Donnell2Santos

“Yeah, he's definitely the starting center, but I'll tell you this, if he falters halfway through the season, he won't be the starting center. I think they still have options. And I think to a certain degree, him being a smaller center may always kind of give you a little issue if he falters to be like, 'I could find a replacement.' So he has the job, but I don't think his job is as secure as his guards, in James Daniels and Cody Whitehair. Those guys have that job unless they're forced to switch to center.” - Ken

Do you have confidence that Kindle Vildor can step up and be a good starter for us? - @PepeSilvia05

“Well, the Bears certainly have confidence that Kindle Vildor can step up. And from what I have seen, yeah, he does look like he could be a reliable starter. I'm not positive that he is going to win the starting job out of camp. In fact, I would lean that either Desmond Trufant or Artie Burns, one of those veterans, is going to lock up that last starting role. But I also wouldn't be surprised, if one of the two of them is not playing up to expectations, if they give Kindle Vildor another crack towards the end of the year, and if he wins that starting job by the end of the year.” - Alex

“It would be nice if both of your draft picks from last year ended up being your starting duo at cornerback. I have to see it. So Alex, I haven't seen it and I hold judgment until I see it. Then after I see him get beat, and how he comes back from getting beat, if he can have the type of amnesia that Jaylon Johnson showed his rookie year, because everybody gets beat, is just can you forget about it and get on to the next play. Then I would be able to really tell you how I feel about Kindle Vildor. I don't feel like I've seen enough of them, at least Alex, our Alex here, Shapiro saw him in training camp. So he's better informed than I am when it comes to Vildor.” - Ken

OK. It's the 2006 Super Bowl, but instead of Grossman, we have Cutler. Do the Bears win the Super Bowl that year? - @WalkerDquan

“'m going to take your question and not answer it, but answer in a different way. If Kyle Orton was the quarterback, the Bears win. I have beat that drum for a decade. Kyle Orton was a winner who won games. Jay Cutler had the same issue where he just like could never break through in the big game, which I know is to a certain degree an unfair narrative because it's a team sport. But to me, he's so talented where maybe they win that Super Bowl, but I could also see him throwing four picks. I could see him throwing four picks in the Super Bowl where I am not sold, that Jay Cutler turns that into a Super Bowl winning team. In the rain, it was terrible weather, I bet he makes a few mistakes, too. Cedric Benson is still fumbling the ball... Does Jay Cutler prevent Cedric Benson from fumbling? No. Does Jay Cutler still throw interceptions? Yes. I'm not sold. I'm not sold that the Bears won the Super Bowl with Jay Cutler. But I am taking it to the bank, Kyle Orton would have won that Super Bowl.”

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