Bears expect WR Keenan Allen back from heel injury vs. Rams
It won’t fix everything, but adding a surehanded, perfectionist route runner who is one of the most productive wide receivers of the era certainly will help the Bears’ sputtering offense.
Keenan Allen practiced in full Friday for the first time in three weeks and likely to return Sunday against the Rams after missing two games with a heel injury and plantar fasciitis. He’ll play through pain for now, but the hope is that it won’t linger throughout the season.
“I’d rather it happen now than at the end of the season,” Allen said. “That was the main thing of resting it an extra week and just making sure we put this behind us and be healthy for the rest of the season.”
The Bears are stacked at wide receiver — Rome Odunze and DJ Moore combined for 190 yards on 14 catches last game — but are counting on Allen. He’s their highest-paid offensive player at $23.1 million and the most accomplished player at any position.
Allen’s precise route running was a major motivator for the Bears when they traded a fourth-round pick to the Chargers in March and picked up his full salary-cap hit as part of a plan to give rookie quarterback Caleb Williams the most favorable surroundings possible.
Allen quickly emerged as a favorite option for Williams in training camp, and Williams targeted him a team-high 11 times in his debut against the Titans. Not only is he another good weapon for Williams, but he should spread out the defense to the benefit of Odunze and Moore. Even at 32, Allen hasn’t reached the point where opponents can expect to neutralize him with single coverage.
There was always some risk with Allen, however. He’s in his 12th season and missed the last four games of last season with a heel injury. It flared up again in mid-August, and Allen aggravated it in the season opener when he tried to stop hard on a route. That was when he started experiencing plantar fasciitis, which cost him the next two games.
“It’s just irritating,” Allen said. “You can’t really do anything about it. You’ve got to wait until it heals up.”
The Bears have three more games until their bye week, when Allen gets another extended break, so he’ll have to play through pain for a while.
Nonetheless, coach Matt Eberflus said he anticipated Allen playing against the Rams and said he’s “in a good spot” despite listing him as questionable on the injury report. Allen hedged, saying he’ll give it time before deciding, but “absolutely” feels better than he did leading up to the opener.
He had little worry about being rusty.
“I’ve been playing for a little while now, so hopefully I can get to my spots,” he joked.
There’s a lot at stake for Allen when it comes to staying healthy and productive as he heads toward free agency. If he proves durable and dangerous, he might even have a future with the Bears.
He had a career-high 108 catches last season and was 11th in the NFL at 1,243 yards — 121 behind Moore, who played all 17 games — and caught seven touchdown passes. The Bears want to see if he can keep that up before talking about a contract extension.
Beyond playing for his next payday, he’s trying to bolster his Hall of Fame candidacy. Allen needs 92 more catches to become the 15th player to reach 1,000 and 500 yards to crack the top 40 all-time in that category.
He’s also looking to do some serious winning for the first time in his career. The Chargers made the playoffs just three times in his 11 seasons and never got past the divisional round.