Robinson's play a heightened issue vs. Bears' tall receivers

CHICAGO – Vikings cornerback Josh Robinson probably never felt shorter in his 23 years on this planet than he did during Sunday's 21-13 loss to the Bears at Soldier Field.

Listed at 5-10, the third-year player was picked on unmercifully by a Bears team with giant receivers and the desperation of being winless at home and having joined the 1923 Rochester Jeffersons as the only teams to surrender 50 or more points in back-to-back games.

"We wanted to go at 21 [Robinson] because he is a little bit smaller than 29 [Xavier Rhodes]," Bears quarterback Jay Cutler said. "So we wanted to put some balls up to our right side and we got the opportunities to do it."

Did they ever. Although Robinson was in good position a number of times, the Bears still beat him repeatedly. The big ones were a 44-yard touchdown to 6-4, 230-pound Brandon Marshall, a 27-yard touchdown to 6-3, 216-pound Alshon Jeffery, a 4-yard touchdown to Marshall and another 34-yarder to Jeffery to the Vikings 8-yard line.

"That's how the Bears operate," Robinson said. "When they're winning against a corner, they're going to keep coming back at him. It's up to that cornerback to stop that from happening."

True, but Robinson did appear to have no help from the safeties far too often as the Vikings stuck with the plan to play their man coverages. It also didn't help that the Vikings got no sacks from the pass rush that entered the game ranked No. 1 in sacks per pass play.

Vikings coach Mike Zimmer admitted after the game there were some calls, "I wish I had back."

The Bears dominated the time of possession, 38:38 to 21:22, because they converted 10 of 17 third downs. Six of Cutler's third-down conversion passes went to his receivers. Five of them were covered by Robinson, including two by Marshall, who had seven catches for 90 yards, and two by Jeffery, who had 11 catches for 135 yards.

"We played our normal defense," Robinson said. "Our defense relies on our corners to cover. And I've been doing a good enough job to help this team win."

In many cases, it appeared there was little more Robinson could do when matched up against players who six inches taller and 20 to 30 pounds heavier. The first touchdown to Marshall basically was a 44-yard jump ball heaved by Cutler under pressure.

Meanwhile, the second one to Marshall was the third straight fade that Cutler threw into the right side of the end zone from the Vikings 4-yard line. Robinson and Captain Munnerlyn broke up the first two attempts, but the Bears knew they would eventually win that 1-on-1 battle. Again.

"I guess they stuck with their game plan," Jeffery said. "And we stuck with ours."

"He acts like I don't know the formation," Cutler said. "I worked to the short side first and [Jeffery] got covered up pretty good. So I just came backside and [Marshall] kind of had [Robinson] posted up and just made a heck of a play."