Allen Robinson Wanted The Bears To Stick With Andy Dalton

The Chicago Bears thought they had a good plan going into the 2021 season. Head coach Matt Nagy had seen it work before with Alex Smith and Patrick Mahomes. Have a veteran quarterback start the entire year with a highly talented 1st round pick sitting behind him. That was the idea behind Andy Dalton and Justin Fields. Everybody remembers what happened. Dalton got hurt in the season's second game, forcing Fields into the starting lineup. Nagy stuck with the rookie the rest of the way, finishing 6-11. It turns out not everybody was on board with that decision. Allen Robinson was one of them.

According to Tyler Dunne of Go Long on the Bears Banter podcast, the wide receiver was excited to play with the former Pro Bowler. He'd spent years enduring quarterbacks like Blake Bortles and Mitch Trubisky, who couldn't read the field and throw on time. Fields would've been more of the same. Dalton was different. He'd shown for years he could do those things. It represented a big opportunity for the offense to finally function the way it was meant to. Others inside Halas Hall agreed so the decision to shift to Fields was met with disappointment.

Allen Robinson had a fair point.

Due to their injury setbacks, he and Dalton never played much together that season. However, the proof is in the numbers. Dalton had more touchdowns, fewer interceptions, and almost as many passing yards as Fields despite starting four fewer games. He went 3-3. While a 10-7 record might not have happened, the Bears likely would've done better than 6-11, which may have saved Nagy and Pace for another year. Then Robinson might not have had to look for a new team in 2022.

The wide receiver is another in a long line of what-ifs for this Bears franchise. Allen Robinson likely would've clinched every team receiving record if they'd managed to nail down the quarterback position. Instead, he went the same way of guys like Curtis Conway, Marcus Robinson, and Alshon Jeffery. They were brilliant for a brief time but always fell off because their quarterbacks were never consistent enough. It's sad to think he recognized Dalton as his only hope of avoiding another disappointing year.