Long Thought Dead Chicago Bears Name Praised As Star Of OTAs

It's rare, but there are times in NFL history when a player many thought was a lost cause suddenly ascended to NFL success after a coaching staff change. Marcus Robinson was a nobody in 1998. A year later when Dick Jauron arrived with creative offensive coordinator Gary Crowton, the receiver exploded for 1400 yards. The Chicago Bears would love to see something like that happen again under new head coach Ben Johnson and his staff. It is too early to know anything, but it sounds like somebody is embracing the new opportunity.

A few years ago, Dominique Robinson arrived from Miami of Ohio as a 5th round pick. Everybody felt he had the raw talent to develop into a quality pass rusher. Things looked great after his first game, where he delivered 1.5 sacks. After that, though, he disappeared. Many wrote him off as another in a long line of failures. From what Johnson revealed on Thursday, it might be premature to write the defensive end off just yet. He may have something to offer yet.

“Even without the pads on, (Robinson’s) done a great job of consistently speed-rushing up the field or countering back to the inside,” Johnson said. “He’s done a really nice job there. And of course he’s got some special teams value that he takes a lot of pride in as well.”

The Chicago Bears still need answers at the EDGE position.

Right now, they have two proven options: Montez Sweat and Dayo Odeyingbo. Anybody with knowledge of the NFL knows good defenses need at least three solid pass rushers to be effective. Finding that third one could be challenging. Many hope Austin Booker takes a step forward from his promising rookie season. After that, it's a complete unknown. If Robinson were to somehow emerge from nowhere to give them any significant production, it'd be a massive win for the Chicago Bears. He played 36 snaps last season and had three pressures. Maybe defensive coordinator Dennis Allen knows which buttons to push. A strong training camp might be enough to finally get the 26-year-old on track.