Bears Catch-All: Finding Targets and Pay for Receiver Duo

Analysis: The Bears have gone from receiver-poor two years ago to two of the league's top pass catchers who need to be paid.

Nov 12, 2023; Inglewood, California, USA; Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Keenan Allen (13) runs / Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports

One of the big questions facing the Bears offense is whether they can handle two receivers as accomplished as DJ Moore and Keenan Allen in the same attack.

Somehow they'll manage, it would seem.

A team which treated the forward pass at times in the past like a family heirloom, trotting it out only on special occasions, suddenly has two of the game's best wide receivers and most likely a hot shot quarterback to get them the ball.

If you combine the efforts of Allen and Moore from last season, it comes to more receptions (204) and more yards (2,607) than any team had from their top two wide receivers.

Of course, they didn't do it for the same team. So, the Bears can't really claim credit for this. But it does underscore the potential high production they'll have at the position. At the very least, it has to have fantasy football owners drooling.

Then again, if they bring all of that pass-catching ability to one team, who is going to get the ball? There is only one football, after all.

Moore addressed this when he spoke to Mike Mulligan and David Haugh on WSCR's Mully & Haugh.

"No it doesn't really matter to me," Moore said on the Score. "I know we both talked about how we're just going to complement eacy other. So I'm just looking forward to that. Whoever. Like, there might be a race to 1,000 (yards) but that's just a friendly competition. But at the end of the day if we win it, like whoever catches the ball I don't really care."

Maybe the bigger question within the question is: who gets paid? The answer for the Bears should be both of them.

Allen is a free agent after 2024 and turns 32 next month on the final day of the draft. Moore gets his next contract after 2025.

At the owners meetings, GM Ryan Poles said he's likely to take up the extension issue as it comes up.

This would mean one for Allen first. The Bears don't want Allen being a rent-a-receiver type, and leave after one year. They did spend a fourth-round draft pick to acquire him.

"I try to be intentional with the order that we do extensions, so we'll review that and kind of see what our order looks like," Poles told reporters. "But for what he (Allen) stands for, I would love to have him long term."

Considering their capabilities and past production, it's a good thing for Poles they'll have a quarterback on a 2024 rookie pay scale for the next three years because at least that way he'll be able to pay for both receivers.

Once wide receiver Muhsin Muhammad called Chicago the place where wide receivers "go to die."

Now, it would seem, it's going to be the place where they go to catch passes and get paid.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven