Amid Baylor’s disastrous season, did Sawyer Robertson disappoint?

The numbers certainly make the case more complicated than a simple yes or no. Robertson spent much of the first half of the season leading the nation in passing yards and touchdowns, and he finished in the top three nationally in both categories while leading the Big 12.

However, he ended the season completing 60.2 percent of his passes, the third-worst mark in the Big 12 among quarterbacks with at least 170 attempts. His downfield accuracy, the trait Todd McShay identified as his biggest improvement area entering the year, never truly materialized.

Some weeks, the arm talent was evident but the consistency and accuracy wavered. Other weeks, the pressure simply didn’t give him enough time to let deeper concepts develop, the product of an offensive line that allowed the second-most sacks in the Big 12. The hits added up. The timing eroded. And the Bears’ ability to sustain drives dwindled as the season progressed. It is difficult to live up to Heisman expectations when your internal clock never stops screaming.

The defense didn’t help much, either. Too often, Robertson and the offense took the field trailing by multiple scores, forced into a mode of perpetual catch-up. When the margin for error shrinks, a quarterback’s worst habits are magnified, and Robertson’s aggressive style was no exception.

The turnovers told that story. His 12 interceptions were the second most in the Big 12, and five of them came in the Bears’ final three games. What felt like late-season urgency could also be interpreted as late-season pressing. Baylor needed its star to elevate the program through turbulence. Instead, Robertson was often dragged into the storm along with everyone else.

And then, there was Fort Worth. Baylor’s biggest rival, a potential inflection point in the season, and Robertson’s chance to close his career undefeated against the Horned Frogs.

Yet, albeit in inclement weather, it was arguably the quarterback’s lowest point. Robertson completed just 48 percent of his passes and threw three interceptions. Conditions were poor, the pressure was heavy, but the stakes were highest. Baylor needed its unquestioned leader to steady the wheel. He couldn’t. So, does that encapsulate the disappointment of his and this team’s season?

In some ways, yes. Robertson was the unquestioned leader of this team, and he led it to a losing record. But placing the blame solely on him, especially as one of Baylor’s best players, unfairly ignores the structural flaws that undermined the offense and the team from start to finish.

The truth lies somewhere in the middle. Robertson was not the primary reason Baylor missed a bowl. But he also wasn’t the solution capable of overcoming everything around him. He was a talented quarterback in the middle of a broken ecosystem, asked to be a savior for a team that needed stability more than heroics.

In the end, Robertson’s season played out like an Old Western, fitting for their quarterback’s gunslinger mentality. Baylor’s fearless cowboy — unafraid, unshaken, unflinching — kept firing, but too often into dust rather than destiny. And as the Bears ride into another uncertain offseason, they’re left grappling with a simple truth: sometimes the gunslinger doesn’t run out of bullets, but simply runs out of time.