Bryan Robinson, who played 14 seasons as a defensive lineman for the St. Louis Rams, Chicago Bears, Miami Dolphins, Cincinnati Bengals and Arizona Cardinals before retiring after the 2010 season, died late Saturday after he was found unresponsive in a Milwaukee hotel room. He was 41.
Milwaukee police told the Chicago Tribune’s Brad Biggs that there were no obvious signs of trauma and are treating the incident as a sudden death. The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office is continuing to investigate Robinson’s death, and autopsy results are scheduled to be released Monday.
Robinson played in 207 games during his career, starting 170 of them and recording 24 career sacks. He’s probably best remembered for blocking a field goal for the Bears as time expired against the Packers on Nov. 7, 1999, Chicago’s first game after Walter Payton’s death.
“He was kind of a jerk to me but if you took it the right way it was helpful to you, especially to me as a rookie,” former Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher, who was mentored by Robinson, told the Tribune. “He became one of my better friends on the team. B-Rob was very good at what he did and he never made mental mistakes. He always knew where to be and he knew where other guys were supposed to be and he didn’t accept that when other guys screwed up. One time in preseason he went off on me for getting out of my gap and they ran through my gap. He didn’t accept guys screwing up for mental reasons. Physically, guys are going to make mistakes. Mentally, he didn’t accept that because he was so good at what he did without being wrong.”
Robinson also played in Super Bowl XLIII for the Cardinals.
(c) 2016, The Washington Post ยท Matt Bonesteel
