Cornerback Kyler Gordon was ruled out for Sunday’s game against the Browns and the Bears won’t have him for any of their other three remaining regular season games either.
The Bears announced that they placed Gordon on injured reserve due to the groin injury he suffered in warmups during Week 14. Gordon will miss the final four weeks of the regular season, but the team hopes he will be able to return for any postseason games they may play.
This is Gordon’s second injured reserve stint of the year. He missed five games with groin and calf injuries during the first stint and he also missed the first four games of the season while recovering from a hamstring injury.
The Bears also announced that they have elevated running back Brittain Brown and linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin from the practice squad for Sunday’s game.
Browns Clips
The Browns signed offensive lineman Garrett Dellinger to the active roster from the practice squad, the team announced Saturday.
The Browns waived wide receiver Jamari Thrash in a corresponding move.
The team also elevated safety Christopher Edmonds and defensive tackle Maurice Hurst from the practice squad.
The Browns also announced they downgraded offensive guard Zak Zinter (back) to out for Sunday’s game against the Bears.
Dellinger is a rookie out of LSU, whom the Ravens selected in the seventh round.
Edmonds is officially in his first NFL season out of Arizona State. Originally signed by the Browns as an undrafted free agent in 2024, Edmonds has appeared in seven career games, including five this season.
Hurst, who is in his eighth season, entered the league as a fifth-round pick of the Raiders in 2018. He has appeared in 63 games with the Raiders (2018-20), 49ers (2021) and Browns (2023-24). Hurst has totaled 116 career tackles, 10 sacks, 10 passes defensed, two interceptions, a forced fumble and three fumble recoveries.
He appeared in eight games with the Browns last season.
The Bears list Rome Odunze as questionable to play against the Browns on Sunday, but Jeremy Fowler of ESPN reports that the team is optimistic the wide receiver will play.
Odunze has a foot injury that kept him sidelined for the Bears’ 28-21 loss to the Packers last week.
He was limited for all three practices this week.
Odunze initially went on the injury report with a heel issue in Week 9, and he said at the time that the injury was “not a simple fix.” But last week was the first game he missed in his career.
He leads the team with 44 catches, 661 receiving yards and six touchdowns this season.
On Thursday night, Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins did it again to the Buccaneers, beating them for the third straight time since signing with Atlanta. And it was another Thursday night masterclass, following last year’s franchise-record 509 passing yards with 373 and three touchdowns in a 29-28 win.
The latest string of Cousins starts wasn’t supposed to happen. He returned to the role of QB1 after the Falcons lost Michael Penix Jr. for the season. And while Cousins’s performances in seven 2025 games have been mixed, there’s something to be said for showing up under the lights against a team that is trying to win the division crown.
Here’s the question for Cousins and the Falcons. What happens next year?
Under the four-year deal Cousins signed in 2024, the Falcons owe Cousins $45 million in 2026. Already, $10 million of it is fully guaranteed.
It’s widely believed he’ll be released. With the guaranteed payment subject to offset, Cousins will likely make more than $10 million on the open market. Especially after Thursday night, during which he showed he still can perform at a high level. That would allow the Falcons to avoid the extra $10 million they’re already required to pay him on the fifth day of the 2026 league year.
He has already earned a bronze bust in the broken-bank Hall of Fame, with $321 million in career earnings through 2025. And he has proven to be a shrewd businessman, even though his first foray into free agency was unavoidable; the Commanders were willing to tag him twice, but they weren’t inclined to offer him a commensurate long-term deal.
Cousins opted for the Falcons in large part because they put multi-year financial security on the table, with $90 million fully guaranteed over two seasons. (The Vikings wanted to go year to year.) With the Falcons unlikely to pay him another $45 million, which would push his three-year haul to $135 million, he’ll likely be a free agent, for the third time.
Cousins will be hitting the market at a very good time. The supply of veterans with starting experience won’t meet the demand. Someone will consider making a run at the 37-year-old.
Teams that will (or at least could) be looking for a potential QB1 include the Jets, Steelers, Browns, Bengals (if Joe Burrow’s recent comments portend an exit from Cincinnati), Colts, Raiders, Saints, and Cardinals.
Then there’s the Vikings, who need a viable veteran alternative to J.J. McCarthy, in the event the cork never comes out of the bottle for him. Would they want to bring Cousins back? Would he be inclined to return?
It’s also possible he’ll stay in Atlanta under a reworked contract, especially with the jury still out on Penix, the eighth overall pick in the 2025 draft.
However it plays out, Cousins will likely get paid out another sizable contract. While it surely won’t be market level, Justin Fields got $20 million per year from the Jets in 2025. That should be the floor for Cousins, who may eventually creep toward $400 million in career earnings.
The chance of snow on Sunday in Chicago is very low. The chance of cold is very high.
Currently, the forecast high temperature at Soldier Field for the Week 15 game between the Browns and Bears is 14 degrees, with a low of minus-2. Winds from seven to 14 miles per hour with gusts of up to 27 mph will make it feel even colder.
The freezing conditions could make it much harder for Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders to duplicate his Week 14 performance, during which he had 364 passing yards, three passing touchdowns, and a rushing touchdown against the Titans.
If he does, Sanders will be the first rookie quarterback in NFL history to have consecutive games of 300 or more passing yards and three or more total touchdowns.
In that same game, Browns defensive end Myles Garrett needs 3.0 sacks to break the single-season sack record of 22.5.
For the Bears, the goals are team-related. Currently the No. 7 seed in the NFC — and closing out the season with games against the Packers, 49ers, and Lions — a loss will make it harder to parlay a 9-3 start into a postseason berth.
The Bears have issued their injury designations for Sunday’s game against the Browns.
Wide receiver Rome Odunze could return to action after missing last Sunday’s loss to the Packers with a foot injury. Odunze was a limited participant in practice all of this week and he was listed as questionable on Friday.
Cornerback Kyler Gordon won’t be in the lineup. Gordon has been ruled out with a groin injury that he suffered in warmups in Green Bay. Gordon missed five games during the season with groin and calf injuries, and he opened the season on the inactive list for four games due to a hamstring injury.
Running back Travis Homer (ankle) returned for a limited practice Friday, but he has also been ruled out for the game.
The Browns will play without cornerback Denzel Ward for the first time this season when they visit the Bears on Sunday.
Ward has been ruled out with a calf injury after missing practice this week. Ward has 38 tackles and an interception so far this season.
They will also be without tight end David Njoku. Njoku has a knee injury and will miss his second game this season.
The Browns have also ruled out right tackle Jack Conklin (concussion), defensive tackle Adin Huntington (quad), running back Dylan Sampson (calf, hand), and right guard Wyatt Teller (calf). Quarterback Deshaun Watson (Achilles) will not be activated from the physically unable to perform list.
Left guard Joel Bitonio (knee, back), wide receiver Malachi Corley (concussion), defensive tackle Mason Graham (rib), wide receiver Cedric Tillman (concussion, rib), and offensive lineman Zak Zinter (back) are listed as questionable.
Bill Belichick has survived a full season in Chapel Hill. Two of his key assistants have not.
Via Pete Thamel of ESPN.com, Belichick has fired offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens and special-teams coordinator Mike Priefer.
Kitchens, the head coach of the Browns in 2019 and the interim Tar Heels coach in 2024, stayed on after Belichick was hired last year. Belichick brought Priefer to UNC after two decades in the NFL, and two years out of football.
Priefer was a member of Kitchens’s staff in Cleveland.
Belichick will now be hiring two new coordinators as he prepares for his second second at UNC. If it doesn’t go much better than his first season, there may not be a third.
And coaching only goes so far. At the college level, it’s about the quality of the players. For 2025, the Tar Heels didn’t have enough good players. They’ll need better players if they want to have a better outcome in 2026.
The University of Michigan has interest in Browns offensive coordinator Tommy Rees as the school searches for a new head coach, Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com reports.
Rees was mum earlier Thursday when asked about college interest in him. He reportedly talked to Penn State about its coaching vacancy last week before the Nittany Lions hired Matt Campbell.
“I’m going to just keep my focus here right now,” Rees said.
It is unclear when the Wolverines will begin interviews after Sherrone Moore’s abrupt firing on Wednesday.
Rees was an offensive coordinator at Notre Dame and Alabama before joining the Browns staff in 2024. He was a candidate for the North Carolina job last year before the Tar Heels hired Bill Belichick.
The Browns promoted Rees from tight ends coach to offensive coordinator before this season, and he took over play-calling duties from head coach Kevin Stefanski in Week 10 against the Jets.
Bears wide receiver Rome Odunze returned to practice on Wednesday and he was back on the field on Thursday.
Odunze missed last Sunday’s loss to the Packers with a foot injury, but he has been a limited participant in practice both days this week. Friday will bring another practice and the Bears will then issue their injury designations for Sunday’s game against the Browns.
Odunze leads the Bears with 44 catches, 661 yards and six receiving touchdowns this season.
Cornerback Kyler Gordon (groin) and running back Travis Homer (ankle) missed practice for the second day. Cornerback Tyrique Stevenson (hip) and wide receiver Olamide Zaccheaus (hamstring) were limited participants while linebacker Ruben Hippolyte (shoulder) and cornerback Jaylon Johnson (groin) were full participants.
