(670 The Score) With 22 seconds remaining Sunday, the Bears faced a third-and-5 situation from the Lions' 24-yard line while trailing 34-30. The Bears both needed to get a first down to keep their final drive alive and also wanted to get out of bounds to stop the clock.
Bears receiver Allen Robinson was aware of all that when he hauled in a pass from quarterback Mitchell Trubisky just shy of the first-down marker. What he didn't know was that Lions cornerback Amani Oruwariye had slipped on the play and that a quick pivot after the catch may have resulted in a 24-yard go-ahead touchdown. At the least, Robinson looked set to pick up the first down and give the Bears perhaps three throws to the end zone.
Instead, when Robinson caught the pass with his back turned to Oruwariye -- a measure to protect the football from a defender who could've been breaking on the pass -- he turned toward the sideline and stepped out a yard short of the first down, setting up a fourth-and-1 that the Bears wouldn't convert.
On Wednesday, Robinson explained his thought process.
"There's no way that I would be able to feel that," Robinson said. "As soon as I was planting by, my eyes are coming back to the ball to locate the ball. I had no idea that until I watched it the next day to see that he had fell. As I stepped back to the ball to catch it, the whole time I'm thinking he's standing up and I need to make a play. Obviously, it's two-minute (drill) so we always turn towards the sidelines. I turned towards the sidelines -- I turned a little wide."
There was another complicating factor for Robinson at the end of the play. Robinson went out of bounds past the chains, which led him to believe he had picked up the first down -- but the man holding the chains had stepped to the left (and inside) of the first-down marker to avoid a collision with the players.
"As I'm pushing up the field, I see the marker, but I see the marker is a little bit different than it was on the ground," Robinson said. "As I'm pushing up, I look on the ground and try to step over the marker. Obviously, I came up a yard short."
On the fourth-and-1 play, the Bears prioritized getting the first down by handing off to running back David Montgomery, who was stuffed shy of the marker, which sealed the Lions' victory.
Robinson's biggest regret on the play was turning what he felt was too wide toward the sidelines, which prevented him from having a better chance at getting the first down.
"But at the same time, I’m thinking about clock," Robinson said. "I’m thinking about everything."
Robinson leads the Bears with 77 receptions for 904 yards and five touchdowns this season. The Bears (5-7) host the Texans (4-8) on Sunday at Soldier Field.
Chris Emma covers the Bears, Chicago’s sports scene and more for 670TheScore.com. Follow him on Twitter @CEmma670.