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Odunze

At this point, even if Odunze did practice on Friday, it’d be hard to trust him in fantasy lineups for Week 18. We expect the Bears to ramp him up next week to see if he can get involved in the playoffs. Odunze has not played since November 28.

Odunze is expected to return at some point this season, though that could be during the postseason. He aggravated the stress fracture in his foot during pre-game warmups in Week 15 and has neither practiced nor played since. He is on the wrong side of questionable at this time.

Bears head coach Ben Johnson told reporters earlier this week that Odunze is “going to be able to help us this year.” Unfortunately, that will not be the case this week. The 23-year-old wide receiver will now miss his fourth straight game, having aggravated the stress fracture in his foot during pre-game warmups in Week 15.

Odunze will have one more potential pratice session Friday, but signs seem to be pointing to the 23-year-old missing antother football game against the 49ers in Week 17. Assuming he doesn’t play, Olamide Zaccheaus will likely be the second wideout option for that contest against San Francisco behind DJ Moore.

Bears head coach Ben Johnson told reporters yesterday that Odunze is “going to be able to help us this year,” but offered no actionable information beyond that. Odunze re-injured the stress fracture in his foot after the Bears allowed him to give it a go in pre-game warmups back in Week 15. Even if they were to let him play this week, the current state of things instills little confidence. Backup plans should be made at this time.

Considering there are only two weeks left in the season, if we don’t see any kind of improvement from Odunze in practices this week, there’s a real chance that the Bears have nothing to play for in Week 18. Odunze may be mothballed until the playoffs. The fact that Johnson wouldn’t put a timetable on it arguably tells us Week 17 will be a stretch for an Odunze return, but the practice report on Wednesday will speak louder than his statement today.

Swift was questionable for Saturday’s Week 16 contest against the Packers, but as expected, the tailback will get the nod for the crucial divisional matchup. The Bears inactives for the contest will be WR Rome Odunze WR Luther Burden, LB Amen Ogbongbemiga, LB Ruben Hyppolite, QB Case Keenum and DL Jonathan Ford.

Odunze was listed with heel and ankle injuries in October and November. On December 5th, he was reportedly considered week-to-week with a stress fracture in his foot. The Bears held him out of their Week 14 game on December 7th, but allowed him to resume practicing in Week 15. He then aggravated the stress fracture during pre-game warmups. It’s an extremely unfortunate series of events. The Bears will also be without WR Luther Burden (ankle) against the Packers on Saturday, reducing target competition for TE Colston Loveland and WRs DJ Moore and Olamide Zaccheaus. Bears RB D’Andre Swift (groin) and TE Cole Kmet (ankle/knee) are questionable to play.

Bears head coach Ben Johnson said “all options are on the table” when talking about possibly shutting Odunze down earlier in the week. While we do expect to see him again at some point this year, that won’t happen in Week 16. With Luther Burden also banged up, D.J. Moore will run as the team’s top wideout versus the Packers.

It’s a walk-thru and an estimated report today, but this isn’t surprising after Ben Johnson’s ominous words for Odunze’s situation on Monday. Odunze is closer to doubtful than questionable based on Johnson saying the Bears may “need to protect him from himself” with this injury after he re-aggravated it right before game time in Week 15.