Over the last five weeks, Chicago Bears wide receiver Keenan Allen has looked like peak Keenan Allen despite the fact that the Bears have been at far from peak form. In these five games — five losses, as part of an abysmal two-month-long losing streak — Allen is averaging 82.4 yards per game and has scored five touchdowns, and on Sunday against the Detroit Lions, he played what was certainly his best game of the season.
Keenan Allen had his best game as a Bear on Sunday afternoon, hauling in nine receptions for 141 yards and a touchdown in a 34-17 loss to the NFC-leading Lions, who set a franchise record with their 13th win of the season. However, Bears fans probably shouldn't grow too comfortable seeing the 12-year veteran in the Navy Blue and Orange, because it sounds like this performance was nothing more than an audition of sorts for Allen, who will be a free agent at the conclusion of the season.
After the loss to the Lions, Allen was asked if he's been trying to prove himself to the Bears front office. Turns out, Chicago is just one of the 32 teams Allen is auditioning for. These last few weeks have been all about, “putting good stuff on tape.”
“Yeah, you just got to prove it to all 32 teams,” Allen said, per Sean Hammond of Shaw Local News Network. “At the end of the day, that’s what it’s about and the last name on your back is really what matters. I ain’t never going to quit. Just keep going.”
If Allen were to turn out to be just a one year rental — at the price of a 4th round pick — it would be a gut-punch considering at best, Chicago will have mustered just six wins at season's end. But given how the last two months have gone, a spring departure for Allen would be a fitting end to what has thus far been a mostly unspectacular stint in the Windy City.
Cheer up, my fellow Bears fans… Caleb Williams is here to stay
Take that bag off your head, man! I know it may not seem like it right now, but for the first time in, well, decades, there is reason for hope in Chicago. Even as the world is crumbling around him, Caleb Williams continues to deliver in a way that quarterbacks historically haven't for this franchise. And that's with an inept coaching staff, a battered offensive line, and a cast of weapons that are already eyeing vacation.
Still, Williams has now gone 326 pass attempts without throwing an interception, the sixth-longest streak in NFL history, and he's closing in on Chicago's single-season passing yardage record. Just under 600 yards shy of Jay Cutler's mark, Williams will probably fall short, but I do believe it's only a matter of time until that record, and every other Bears passing record of note belongs to him.
