Chicago Bears 35, Jacksonville Jaguars 16
Q. There were some concerns early in the season but today, the touchdown down the middle where he hit you on the back shoulder how do you know he sees the back shoulder, and what do you see that gives you the same information?
KEENAN ALLEN: Starts with two high defense. Once we get to two-high, I'm one-on-one with the middle linebacker. We've been working on that throw since OTAs. So you know, today we was able to put it on film and make it happen.
Q. You've been a part of some incredible wide receiver rooms throughout your career. Where does that room rank compared to some others?
KEENAN ALLEN: It's up at the top for sure, from top to bottom: Tight ends, running backs, receivers obviously, and then you've got a quarterback like Caleb, I think we can be real special.
Q. The command that he had and the way both of your touchdowns were a perfectly placed pass, what does that say as far as his command and the offense, particularly knowing where to put the ball?
KEENAN ALLEN: Yeah, he was obviously in a rhythm after the first couple drives, and you know, five incompletions, I think it was, you can tell he's dialing them up. Even the fourth down ball, the slant. When he's in a groove like that and all the balls are catchable, then it's pretty easy to play receiver.
Q. In his words, he said he was "pissed off" about the interception.
KEENAN ALLEN: Yeah.
Q. Could you sense that?
KEENAN ALLEN: Yeah, absolutely. When he came back the next drive, after the turnover, just hear him kind of give out like a "Whooo, let's go." You could tell wasn't down and didn't lose any confidence. I was like, let's see how it goes ask binge balm boom we down all the way down the field.
Q. You know really, really well what good quarterback looks like in your career. What is clicking for Caleb, and how significant are the steps that he's taken the last three weeks?
KEENAN ALLEN: I think just his growth, just week-in, week-out, he gets better. You know, obviously when we pick up the tempo, he's a lot more comfortable. He's able to see things faster and you know, the defense can't do all the moving around and stuff. This benefits us.
Q. How would you describe the belief that's swelling in the offense right now?
KEENAN ALLEN: First couple weeks, defense is playing huge. Offense wasn't really doing a lot.
Now we're coming out and scoring more than we were, and scoring a lot of points. So you know it makes it easier for the defense.
I was just talking to Montez, he was like, Man, I was getting frustrated. Y'all kept converting on third down. I was ready to go back out there. I'm trying to get a sack.
I'm like, yeah, it's going to be like that sometimes. As long as everything is complementing each other and special teams is playing good, we've got a chance.
Q. Only a matter of time before you had a breakout game. How did feel to finally have one? Were you getting frustrated?
KEENAN ALLEN: It was big. Big time. Like you said, missed a couple weeks. Just coming back, when you take a little break from football and you come back, you've got to get back into the groove of things sometimes. You know, just keep playing. Don't try not to get frustrated and just stay ready.
Q. What were the celebrations you sorted through before you settled on the tea?
KEENAN ALLEN: Obviously the drinking tea one was one we were talking about during that drive. Whoever scores, we're going to do the little tea party thing. That was kind of the only one. We did the little marching band at the end, too.
Q. Who came up with the tea party idea?
KEENAN ALLEN: Swift.
Q. You're object a three-game winning run, D'Andre Swift has been very good. How much has his production helped?
KEENAN ALLEN: It's been huge. Run game has come alive. First couple weeks we were struggling. It's come alive a lot. Screen game has come alive a lot, and him out of the backfield is second-to-none.
As long as you have to account for everybody on the offense, Caleb is running around, it's kind of hard to play like that.
Q. You guys arrived on Tuesday very early in the week. How was it compared to last time you were here against the Chargers in terms of arriving earlier for the jet lag?
KEENAN ALLEN: I would say so. Being out here all week, we had a chance to settle down. Tuesday, as soon as we landed, I had to go to sleep. Because I didn't sleep too much on the plane so I went straight to sleep, got me a nap in but I didn't go to sleep that night until four in the morning just because of the time difference.
The next day, same thing. Didn't go to sleep, probably 3:30, 4:00 in the morning, just sitting there on Netflix, stain gram, whatever, not being able to go to sleep. And as the week progressed, yesterday I'm in bed at 10:30 ready to knock out. So it's good.
Q. Is it easy to say it's not really Caleb's job to be concerned about how many targets he has? How does he go about delegating or making sure you guys are satisfied? And how do you all on the other end maybe check that you're not putting too much on him as a rookie right now in terms of "me," "me," "me"?
KEENAN ALLEN: Yeah, like we was talking about with the receiver room that we have with the weapons that we do have, running backs, tight ends, receiver, himself, running the ball.
As a quarterback, I don't think you need to look at one person versus if you have like a Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison and the rest are guys -- no disrespect to those guys, but you've got Justin Jefferson, you've got to get him the ball every damn play. We got guys you can get the ball to. So it is what it is.
Q. He's been so good in and out of structure for a long time but to see him create, I think it was on the fifth drive, that it was a 23-yard scramble and 19-yard scramble. What does that do for the offense when you have a quarterback who can do so much?
KEENAN ALLEN: It's huge. Because the defense, their coverage shuts down the play that we have. But you didn't guard the quarterback. So I mean, who you going to stop? You stop the quarterback or you stop the guy that's running the routes? It's hard to do both.
Q. What's it say about Cole to see him have two touchdowns and be the long snapper?
KEENAN ALLEN: That's elite. We was talking about it on the sideline. I don't think we ever seen it, a guy who can score a touchdown and then do a snap. Pretty solid. Pretty solid.
Q. Did you think the fan support was going to be as good as it was?
KEENAN ALLEN: I didn't. D.J. was saying it's a home game. Watch this. I was like, all right, I'll see how it looks. I'm not used to that. That was solid.
Q. Changing teams at this stage of your career, you probably don't know what you are getting into. What do you think this team is, now six games in, seeing the talent and how things are run what do you think you guys can do?
KEENAN ALLEN: Player-led team. We got a lot of leadership. We feed off each other. The defense is amazing. The offense has gotten better every week. Special teams is second-to-none, and you know, I think we do a great job of showing up every day ready to work.
Like I said, everybody feeds off each other.
Q. On third down, how much pride do you take in getting open?
KEENAN ALLEN: I don't know, I've just always been good at it I guess. Third down, you know, a lot of opportunities out there just because they are going to be playing man coverage, and you know, you just got to find a way to get open. That's what I do.
Q. Your second touchdown, what did you see on the route and the ball to Caleb?
KEENAN ALLEN: Second touchdown with the fade? He was in the red zone. One-on-one. They was one-high, press coverage. It was actually a run play with the fade check, and as soon as you line up, you're like, you know what time it is. It's one-on-one; it's me and you. Like, Caleb, throw the ball.
And even when I looked up it was a perfect ball so I didn't have to jump up and make a miraculous catch or anything. It was just pack and go at that point.
Q. Caleb just referred to you as like an other brother figure. Would you also see him as a younger brother? Is that the relationship you've got?
KEENAN ALLEN: Yeah, absolutely. Ever since I've been here, ever since he's been drafted, we've always had the connection, the relationship. Just going back and forth, laughing, whatever it is, talking football, video games, playing cards, you know, whatever.
Q. Shane said this week, making a concerted effort in the offense to get you the ball. We usually hear the ball is going to go where his reads take him. We don't hear that often that "we're trying to feed Keenan." What was that process like going through the week knowing you were going to get targeted a lot today?
KEENAN ALLEN: I didn't think I was going to get targeted a lot. Going through the week, it was still frustrating obviously, because you know, things happen. Plays don't play out like they do.
But we were talking about it again on the sideline today, me and Shane, that the red zone drive where I did score the first touchdown, kept coming to me back-to-back to back, three plays in a row he came to me. That was big-time for me.
Q. With the bye week coming up, what areas would you say you need to clean up before the next game against Washington?
KEENAN ALLEN: Just continue to get better. Scoring drives on offense and turnovers, obviously. I think we had one ball on the ground today fumble-wise. Just protecting the ball at all costs and giving the defense a chance to shut them boys up.
Q. On the seam touchdown to Cole, you had the fake screen. What was your view of that sequence?
KEENAN ALLEN: That's just great play. Great play call. We was in the perfect spot on the field to dial it up. That was one of the plays going into the game we are like, we have a good chance to score on this play. Cole made a hell of a job getting into the end zone, running through a guy. And good reads, bad reads. You say it's a good read when you score a touchdown.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports