Bear Digest

Bears Receivers See Air Attack Tough to Dislodge from Groove

No predictions of success against the Commanders but both DJ Moore and Keenan Allen see the passing game rolling downhill and tough even for good teams to stop.
Gene Chamberlain|
Bears wide receiver Keenan Allen catches a touchdown pass against Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback Montaric Brown.
Bears wide receiver Keenan Allen catches a touchdown pass against Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback Montaric Brown. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

It's a matter of being in a groove, say DJ Moore and Keenan Allen.

The Bears wide receivers are not in the mood for forecasting something big this Sunday against Washington, and in Moore's case this is really downplaying it considering the 230-yard game he had against the Commanders last year.

However. what they do know is even if the competition is better this week than what they faced against the secondaries of the Rams, Panthers and Jaguars, the passing game can still flourish.

They've found their groove with nine TD catches in four weeks.

"I don't know about seeing the future, but as an offense, once you get in that rhythm, you can kind of understand that the defense isn't going to be able to stop you today," Allen said. You can definitely feel that."

Quarterback Caleb Williams has thrown only one interception in the last three games after throwing four in the first three.

"I mean, his struggles came in Houston and Indy as you seen, we all seen, and he's bounced back and been on a roll since," Moore said. "So I think hopefully he got that out of the way. He'll just go stay on this roll."

While the passing attack got moving in Week 4, it really didn't include Allen until he caught two TD passes in Week 6 at London against Jacksonville. Then the full passing attack looked to be in a groove when all players had been involved.

It definitely made Allen feel better to get into a groove with his quarterback after an injured heel left him as the only untapped receiver of the Big Three.

"Yeah, absolutely, you want to contribute, be a part of the offense, be a part of the party as I always say," Allen said. "Just enjoying the guys."

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Allen didn't want the receivers and Williams getting all the credit for the offense getting into its groove.

"Earlier on, the run game was kind of hard to get going," he said. "But once the run game got clicking, now you see everybody getting touches. Everything is starting to open up and we're just making the best of it."

For the offense to continue clicking this week, it could mean another big game by Moore against the team he victimized last year in Washington. The eight catches went for career highs of 230 yards and three touchdowns.

So can he repeat the performance?

"I knew somebody was going to ask me that last night," Moore said. "I was thinking about, I was like, 'Eh, do I say the real answer or do I just like come up with something politically correct?"

Truth is always better and the Commanders didn't get to 5-2 with an offense alone.

"I mean, yeah, you could see they got five wins for a reason," Moore said. "They go out there and play hard. But we do the same thing and we get paid to go get wins in our win column. So that's going to be the test (of), who want it more?"

So he's getting a feeling it will be a big night?

"Ooooooh, no," he said. "There's nothing that's saying that right now. But I'll tell you later on in the week if it do."

Twitter: BearsOnSI


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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

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.