Chicago Bears: 5 Players who must shine vs. Chargers in Week 8

Allen Robinson, Wide Receiver

Allen Robinson is having a terrific season despite the offensive struggles. He is quarterback Mitchell Trubisky‘s favorite target this season. Robinson has 59 targets this season, far and away more than any other receiver. No other receiver has more than 24 targets (running back Tarik Cohen has 43). He’s on pace to have a career-high 109 catches and 1,200 receiving yards, which would be the second-best total in his career.

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Giving Robinson all those targets is a double-edged sword, though. Trubisky leans heavily on him and doesn’t look very hard for other receivers. That bogs down the offense and defenses eventually cover Robinson.

Remember the Week 1 loss to the Green Bay Packers? The interception that basically finished the game was a throw to Robinson. That play was bad from the snap. Trubisky only looked at Robinson and Green Bay triple-covered him. The result was an interception and game over.

While that might be the case, Robinson needs to come through again. Trubisky lacks confidence so if Robinson continues to make his catches, that will help the young quarterback. Additionally, he’ll lead by example and when the ball is thrown to other receivers they could step up themselves.

Robinson was jawing with the Saints defensive backs during garbage time last week. That got his competitive juices flowing for sure. Perhaps he could do the same against the Chargers but early instead of garbage time. That will get him revved up and ready to explode. The Chicago Bears need for him to do that.