Bears' Allen happy to be back at work
Quarantined in the basement at home so as not to expose his newborn daughter to the pneumonia he was battling, unavailable to play in a game because of illness for the first time since 2004, the Bears' Jared Allen was not himself last week.
So the five-time Pro Bowl defensive end was glad to be back at practice Wednesday, even on a limited basis.
"It was brutal, especially against the Packers," Allen said of his inactivity. "I've played through a lot of things, but there's just certain things you can't.
"You don't want to come back and end up in the hospital. After talking with the doctors and my wife, we really thought that was the best plan of attack, and it was. I wouldn't have been worth anything out there."
Allen said he started feeling the illness in the Week 3 Monday night game against the New York Jets, and by the time it ran its course late last week, he had dropped 15 pounds, from 254 to 239.
The Bears' defense could use a boost this week after getting abused by the Packers. The pass rush, specifically, has lots of room for improvement after it failed to even get the attention of Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers as he dissected the secondary.
Coach Marc Trestman sounded cautiously optimistic about the return of Allen.
"We'll see how he feels going into the weekend," Trestman said. "He's played this game a long time. He'll do whatever he can to get himself ready to play. I know he wants to play, but we'll see where he is after practice on Friday."
The Bears also are hopeful of getting defensive tackle Jeremiah Ratliff back after he missed the previous two games with a concussion suffered in Week 2.
"It's big, it's huge," linebacker Lance Briggs said. "Having (Allen) and Ratliff last weekend would've been big, especially in getting to the quarterback. If Jared plays, that's going to be a big boost."
Allen was only back up to 241 pounds by Wednesday morning, but he was planning to be back on the field Sunday in Charlotte against the Carolina Panthers.
"I've been having good workouts the last couple of days," he said. "I'm more concerned about recovery time with my lungs, but everything feels good right now. It's just eating and rehydrating and getting all that weight back on. Hopefully I'll be back up by this weekend."
Allen said he would welcome a rapid return to normalcy in a 2014 season that has been full of changes, starting with his signing with the Bears in March after six seasons with the Minnesota Vikings. He missed time during training camp to be with his wife for the birth of their second daughter, then was sidelined in the preseason with a shoulder injury.
"I haven't gotten in that rhythm or that groove of what I'm used to playing in," said Allen, who reached double digits in sacks in each of the previous seven seasons but has yet to get one as a Bear. "It's not anybody's fault. Preseason was preseason. I didn't do much in preseason in Minnesota either.
"(And) having a new baby, there's been a lot of change in my life, but it's a good thing. I was sad I missed this game because coming out of the (Week 2) San Fran game and then the New York game, I felt like I was really starting to get into the rhythm of this defense of where we were at stopping the run, and I still feel that."
Allen hopes to regain that rhythm and get back on schedule starting Sunday.
"I'm looking forward to these next 12 weeks," he said. "I'm like, 'What else can happen?' I've got the injuries out of the way, I've got the sickness out of the way, let's go have fun."
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