Allen Robinson Expects to Be with Bears Rest of Season
A-Rob Gate has ended, for now.
The Chicago Bears and wide receiver Allen Robinson were both willing to put Tuesdays' blow-up on social media into the past, while they continue with contract negotiations.
Robinson said he expects to stay with the team for the rest of the season.
The feelings Robinson had were strong when he decided to electrify social media by removing all his Bears photos and mentions from his site pages, yet he sounds as if he has now refocused on Sunday's game with the New York Giants still with no contract beyond this season.
Disputed reports about whether he actually asked to be traded have been shoved into the past by Robinson, as well as the Bears.
"Again, my heart and spirit has never wavered about the city of Chicago and playing for this organization," Robinson said. "Again, what you're seeing is part of the nature of the business.
"For me, I only can control the things that I can. And doing that wholeheartedly is, again, going out here, being the best player I could be for my teammates, going out and competing on Sundays and help us win games. Everything after that is going to continue to play out how it's gonna play out. Like I said before, I've talked to the people in this organization and the locker room and everything like that."
Robinson said he spoke with both general manager Ryan Pace and coach Matt Nagy after the social media action and uproar.
An important aspect of their talk was keeping a proper perspective so as not to disrupt the team.
Robinson on Tuesday had teammates howling on social media about the need to get him a new deal, Cordarrelle Patterson and Tarik Cohen ranking high on this list.
"The social media world is where we are at right now and it's a voice for people," coach Matt Nagy said.
However, Nagy sought to have players remember it's simply a business matter not necessarily meant for the rest of the world until something is decided.
"It's a pretty cool (team) culture that we have going on right now," Nagy said. "Guys that like each other, guys that want to be here. Again, I think it's more so than anything to all of our players, if you look at the history of the Chicago Bears here, especially recently with players that we have on this team, I think you will see it's pretty friendly. If you really look at that.
"There's a process and there is some patience involved probably for all of us."
Nagy was asked whether he was concerned Robinson felt unwanted.
"Zero concern," Nagy said. "I think, like I said, just talking to him, everybody's able to talk.
"It's so much easier when you just cut out the middle stuff and all the emotions of people that people get into, start saying. When you're just able to talk one-on-one and you listen, that’s the other key part of this, too, he listens, we listen, usually things end up pretty good. So I really don’t have any concern."
Fans erupted like teammates did on social media.
While Robinson would not acknowledge whether he demanded a trade, he did have knowledge of what the public response was.
"For the most part, again, everything is pretty much the same for me," Robinson said. "I know there was a lot of commotion and stuff going on yesterday, but I was just chilling, talking to (receivers) coach (Mike) Furrey about the game plan, watching some stuff on the Giants. So for me, I try to keep the main thing the main thing as much as possible."
Quarterback Mitchell Trubisky called it less of a distraction than it seemed.
"Well, we always support each other 100 percent all the way so we're always behind our teammates, but I think it's really simple for us," Trubisky said. "It may seem like a distraction online or on Twitter or whatever it is, but we don’t see that in the locker room. We don't see that on field."
Trubisky, as one who eschews social media, offered up a way to keep it even less of a distraction.
"I would recommend going dark for any guys who ask me," Trubisky said. "You know me, I'm not active on Twitter or Instagram but the guys like it and I think the worst place you can go is start to get into arguments with guys on the outside world and try to get other peoples' opinions on it."
Trubisky was also the one who urged the team to shut off all televisions in Halas Hall last year so no one had to hear criticism.
Nagy sought to calm everyone.
"This is an instant gratification world we live in right now, everything needs to happen now," he said. "So patience and process is a part of this and when you have two sides that are working through this it's their job to do it.
"And I'm, me as the head coach and him as the player, we have our own relationship, too. And I think that's important and we talked through that kind of stuff."
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
