Bear Digest

Keenan Allen: Untapped Weapon After Practicing at Full Speed

The Bears have a chance to get their running game going again against a banged-up Panthers defense but it's also possible they'll target their new receiver extensively.

Gene Chamberlain

Keean Allen goes to the turf at the first down marker for the Bears against the Titans in the season opener.
Keean Allen goes to the turf at the first down marker for the Bears against the Titans in the season opener. / Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK
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There are a few good reasons to think the Bears will focus their energies on offense to the running game or even short passing game this week again.

However, there's one other option they haven't had working so far and could this week against the Carolina Panthers.

Last week the Bears got running backs D'Andre Swift and Roschon Johnson rolling for the first time for 131 rushing yards but this week are going against a Panthers defense every bit as poor against the run as the Rams were last week.

They should have Teven Jenkins back run-blocking for them Sunday despite bruised ribs and being questionable as coach Matt Eberflus characterized the injury as trending in the right way.

"Yeah, it's just bruised and just pain tolerance," Eberflus said Friday after practice. "Torque and moving and that's really about it. But we'll see where it goes."

The other huge reason the running game looms as a possible asset is Carolina's injury report. Starting linebackers Shaq Thompson and Josey Jewell are out for the game. Thompson is done for the year with an Achilles injury and Jewell has hamstring/groin issues.

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"It's next man up and that's the mentality we always have and I'm sure they have the same mentality," Eberflus said about the Panthers. "The (backup) guys have to function. They have to communicate and get the calls to the secondary, make the adjustments up front, if you're moving your front around.

"It's a big job to play linebacker. It's the quarterback. Him and the safety are the quarterbacks of the defense, so it's a difficult task because I've been in that situation. I remember back when I was a linebacker coach. But the guys will step up, and you coach them up."

The other untapped weapon the Bears have who could finally be utilized is wide receiver Keenan Allen.

Nothing has been said all week about Allen and his plantar fasciitis that kept him out in losses during Weeks 2 and 3. It had been bothering him since mid-August, Allen said last week.

"He's looked good the whole week," Eberflus said. "Quick moving. His routes look really good. But he's looked good."

Allen did not even appear on the injury report all week and had three full practices.

Allen has had just 14 targets and seven catches for 48 yards with a long of 9 yards. He was targeted only three times for three catches and 19 yards last week as he returned from the injury.

A year ago he owned the middle of the field and just about anywhere else with 108 catches in only 13 games. He had four games with 10 catches or more, an 18-catch game against Minnesota and five 100-yard days.

With backup linebackers who could be on their heels all day because of the running game, it could be a week where Allen is able to exploit the middle of the defense as he tries to become a security blanket in the slot for Williams.

Twitter: BearsOnSI

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.