AP

Veteran defensive end Jared Allen is as confused as the rest of us.

Perhaps to the point of insanity.

Even with a 3-6 record and a pair of disastrous performances their last two games (in which they allowed 106 points), Allen said he still had hopes for this season.

“It’s tough,” Allen said, via Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. “Obviously, it’s not what you foresee. Obviously, I came to Chicago for a reason. I thought we had all the pieces, and we still do. We just have to be consistent. But you know what, we’re still not out of this.”

It’s clearly not what the 32-year-old envisioned when he left Minnesota in free agency, hoping to land with a Super Bowl contender. And even with the Seahawks inquiring, he went to Chicago.

“Heck, if you can hand-pick the Super Bowl team, everybody would try to do that,” Allen said. “Honestly, I prayed about it, prayed about it, and the good Lord led me to Chicago. I’m here for a reason. Whatever that reason is, I keep plugging away.”

He’s also been through a bout of pneumonia earlier this year, making it one to forget for a number of reasons.

“I’m just glad to be healthy again,” he said. “Catching pneumonia, it took me weeks to get back to full strength. . . . I’ve hardly ever been hurt before, and to deal with illness and stuff like that, it’s new to me. But you just push through it and keep sawing wood, and eventually the tree falls.”

Of course, the way the Bears are playing right now, that tree could fall, and no one would hear it.