Of all of the Chicago Bears wide receivers in franchise history, how close is Allen Robinson to the best?
Allen Robinson has only played two years with the Chicago Bears, so hopefully, I am not getting too far ahead of myself. However, it is fair to say that the Chicago Bears are not a wide receiver factory either. So, after two seasons in Chicago, it is worth looking up where Robinson stands amongst the All-Time wide receivers.
Below is the list of the 24 Bears wide receivers in catches. This counts only games played with a Chicago Bears helmet. Robinson checks in at 22nd in receptions, with 153 and 24th in yards with 1.901 in two seasons.
Game Rece Rk Player From To Draft Tm Lg G GS Tgt Rec Yds Y/R TD Y/G Ctch% Y/Tgt 1 Johnny Morris 1958 1967 12-137 CHI NFL 121 98 356 5059 14.21 31 41.8 2 Marty Booker 1999 2008 3-78 CHI NFL 82 61 586 329 3895 11.84 25 47.5 56.1% 6.65 3 Curtis Conway 1993 1999 1-7 CHI NFL 92 81 607 329 4498 13.67 31 48.9 54.2% 7.41 4 Alshon Jeffery 2012 2016 2-45 CHI NFL 63 56 529 304 4549 14.96 26 72.2 57.5% 8.60 5 Brandon Marshall 2012 2014 4-119 CHI NFL 45 45 462 279 3524 12.63 31 78.3 60.4% 7.63 6 Bobby Engram 1996 2000 2-52 CHI NFL 62 46 423 246 2831 11.51 17 45.7 58.2% 6.69 7 Dick Gordon 1965 1971 7-88 CHI NFL 97 81 238 3550 14.92 35 36.6 8 Harlon Hill 1954 1961 15-174 CHI NFL 89 72 226 4616 20.42 40 51.9 9 Devin Hester 2006 2013 2-57 CHI NFL 123 46 390 217 2807 12.94 14 22.8 55.6% 7.20 10 Jim Dooley 1952 1961 1-8 CHI NFL 81 69 211 3172 15.03 16 39.2 11 Wendell Davis 1988 1993 1-27 CHI NFL 81 54 130 207 3000 14.49 14 37.0 12 Jim Keane 1946 1951 18-182 CHI NFL 70 19 206 3031 14.71 23 43.3 13 Bill McColl 1952 1959 3-32 CHI NFL 96 59 201 2815 14.00 25 29.3 14 Marcus Robinson 1998 2002 4-108 CHI NFL 51 28 351 187 2695 14.41 20 52.8 53.3% 7.68 15 Earl Bennett 2008 2013 3-70 CHI NFL 78 29 295 185 2277 12.31 12 29.2 62.7% 7.72 16 Willie Gault 1983 1987 1-18 CHI NFL 76 72 184 3650 19.84 27 48.0 17 James Scott 1976 1983 8-193 CHI NFL 71 58 177 3202 18.09 20 45.1 18 Dennis Gentry 1982 1992 4-89 CHI NFL 159 30 30 171 2076 12.14 7 13.1 19 Muhsin Muhammad 2005 2007 2-43 CHI NFL 47 47 334 164 2183 13.31 12 46.4 49.1% 6.54 20 Ken Kavanaugh 1940 1950 3-22 CHI NFL 90 36 162 3626 22.38 50 40.3 21 Dez White 2000 2003 3-69 CHI NFL 60 31 305 155 1754 11.32 8 29.2 50.8% 5.75 22 Allen Robinson 2018 2019 2-61 CHI NFL 29 27 248 153 1901 12.42 11 65.6 61.7% 7.67 23 Bernard Berrian 2004 2007 3-78 CHI NFL 58 32 299 150 2197 14.65 13 37.9 50.2% 7.35 24 Jeff Graham 1994 1995 2-46 CHI NFL 32 31 238 150 2245 14.97 8 70.2 63.0% 9.43
Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 2/4/2020.
Johnny Morris leads the way with 356 receptions for 5,059 yards. So Robinson is 203 receptions for 3,158 yards to top Morris. Looking at Robinsons season averages with the Bears, it would take 2.7 years to catch him in receptions and 3.3 years to catch him yards. Needless to say, if Robinson signs an extension with the Chicago Bears there is a very real chance he will go down as the best Bears wide receiver of All-Time.
According to Mike Clay of ESPN, Robinson is projected to see 85 receptions for 1,035 yards in 2020. That is a bit more than his two-year average, so if we go with that projection he will jump to eighth all-time in receptions and 14th all-time in receiving yards in Chicago Bears history in one year. Next year we could look back at Robinson jumping the ranks of top all-time Bears wide receivers with a huge leap.
With so much changing over the history of the game, it is hard to compare the old-timers of the past to some of the greats of Bears history. Looking at the six most recent players on the list, we broke it down per-game to see how Robinson stacked up.
Rece Rece Rece Rk Player From To Rec Yds TD 1 Marty Booker 1999 2003 4.6 53.4 0.3 2 Bobby Engram 1996 2000 4.0 45.7 0.3 3 Alshon Jeffery 2012 2016 4.8 72.2 0.4 4 Johnny Knox 2009 2012 3.0 49.2 0.3 5 Brandon Marshall 2012 2014 6.2 78.3 0.7 6 Allen Robinson 2018 2019 5.3 65.6 0.4
Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 2/4/2020.
Overall, only Brandon Marshall averaged more receptions per game than Robinson, and only Alshon Jeffrey and Marshall averaged more yards. Still, through two years, Robinson is right in the conversation with these two as the elite Bears in recent history. All of these players are higher than Robinson on the all-time list but have all played in Chicago longer. With three more years in Chicago at these rates, he will climb the all-time ranks, and we could see him go down as the best receiver in Bears history.