Borrowing from Stacey King’s vernacular: Big time players make big time plays.
And for the Bears to have any shot at beating the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, their biggest-time player on offense – Allen Robinson – is going to have to make big time plays.
Just like he did the last time the Bears were in the playoffs.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Chicago sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
In the Bears’ wild card loss to the Philadelphia Eagles two years ago, Robinson caught 10 passes for 143 yards (a franchise postseason record) and a touchdown, with much of that production coming in do-or-die moments late in a closely contested playoff game. That game still stands as Robinson’s best in a Bears uniform; if Cody Parkey’s kick hadn’t double doinked, images of the wide receiver bodying up Eagles cornerback Avonte Maddox would be among the most defining of the last decade here in Chicago.
“The saying goes that big-time players make big time plays in big time situations and he definitely was one of those players in the fourth quarter when we needed him to make big-time catches for our offense,” quarterback Mitch Trubisky said. “He was getting open and making big-time plays and we were giving him opportunities.
“I think players like him always show up when the spotlight is on and we just need to continue to rely on him and our other playmakers and get him the football in key matchups. A-Rob has done a great job with that and he’s shown with experience in his play that when given an opportunity he will make big plays for us.”
The Bears, then, need to find a way to get the ball in Robinson’s hands way more than the two times he had it last weekend against the Green Bay Packers. That’s an especially important directive given Darnell Mooney’s up-in-the-air status for Sunday with an ankle injury – even if he does play, the impressive rookie may not be at full strength.
NFL
Robinson had a strong game against the Saints in Week 8, consistently beating cornerback Marshon Lattimore to the tune of five catches on six targets for 80 yards and a touchdown. Lattimore is a good corner, but that’s a matchup Robinson needs to frequently win again on Sunday in the Superdome.
“I’ve played against Lattimore a couple of times in my career, so just I have a good feel for him, I feel like, as far as what he likes to do,” Robinson said. “He’s a great player in this league, so it’s going to be a battle out there.”
While a big game from Robinson would certainly help keep the Bears competitive – they’re 10.5-point underdogs – it could also help the 27-year-old add some more money to his next contract. Robinson will be a free agent this spring, and while the Bears could use the franchise tag to keep him in Chicago, he’d do well for himself to hit free agency on the heels of not only a productive season, but a productive playoff game.
MORE: NBC Sports Chicago's Bears experts predict the NFL playoffs
Can Robinson do it? We’ll see on Sunday. But he’s already had a big game in the playoffs once – the only postseason appearance of his career – and the Bears will head to Louisiana with no reason to believe he can’t do it again.
“There’s a reason why he’s the type of player he is. In big moments, he’s making big plays,” coach Matt Nagy said. “… Anytime you have 100 catches, teams know that that’s a guy that you want to be able to get the football to. What we need to do is make sure that we do a good job of mixing it up and making sure that he’s still getting opportunities. I know last week was one of those things where there weren’t a lot of opportunities or targets for him.
“Obviously, we want to be able to change that.”