Jared Allen Illness: Updates on Bears Star's Status and Return

Updates from Sunday, Oct. 5

Rich Campbell of the Chicago Tribune confirms Jared Allen is active for Week 5:

Updates from Friday, Oct. 3

ESPN's Jeff Dickerson has the latest on Allen's status:

Bears sideline reporter Zach Zaidman had more:

Updates from Thursday, Oct. 2

Jared Allen talked about his status for Sunday's game, according to Andrew Seligman of the Associated Press:

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Allen is confident he will be ready to play at Carolina this week for the Chicago Bears after missing a game because of pneumonia.

The five-time Pro Bowl defensive end is feeling "much better" after sitting out Sunday's loss to the Green Bay Packers. He returned to practice Wednesday on a limited basis and hopes to be ready when the Bears visit the Panthers this weekend.

"We're taking it day by day, and right now, I'm on track," Allen said.

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Allen also talked about the illness and his recovery process, according to Seligman:

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Allen felt ill going into the Monday night game at the New York Jets two weeks ago. He was diagnosed with pneumonia two days later and watched from the couch as Aaron Rodgers led the Packers to their 700th win last week. Allen was not hospitalized, but he said his weight dropped from 254 to 239 because of the illness. It was at 241 Wednesday morning, but he's been working out, regaining his strength.

He figures the weight will come back now that he's eating more, something he wasn't able to do much of the past week and a half.

"Everything feels good right now," he said. "I'm going to get another good lift in right now. I think it's just eating and trying to rehydrate and getting all that done. Hopefully, I'll be back up by the weekend."

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Updates from Monday, Sept. 29

Jeff Dickerson of ESPN and John Mullin of CSN Chicago provided comments from Marc Trestman on Jared Allen's status:

Updates from Sunday, Sept. 28

The Bears announced Jared Allen's status for Week 4:

Fox Sports' Jay Glazer quickly followed with additional details:

Original Text

The Chicago Bears will need a strong pass rush in order to combat the rival Green Bay Packers in Week 4, but they could potentially be missing a key piece.  

According to the Bears' official Twitter account, defensive end Jared Allen is questionable for Sunday's game due to an unspecified illness:

Per Adam Hoge of The Game 87.7 FM in Chicago, Allen was sent home early from the team facility on Friday:

Allen has yet to record a sack just three games into his Bears career, but he can be a handful for opposing offensive lines when he is on his game.

If Chicago is without Allen and his 128.5 career sacks in Week 3, it will make life much easier for MVP-caliber quarterback Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay offense. With that in mind, there is no question that Bears head coach Marc Trestman is hopeful that Allen will be healthy enough to suit up.

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