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.
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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.
Penn State hired Matt Campbell as their new head coach last week, but Browns offensive coordinator Tommy Rees’ name was reportedly in the mix before they made that choice.
NFL Media reported that Rees had a remote conversation with the school about the opening before they moved forward with Campbell. Rees was asked about that during a Thursday press conference and didn’t confirm anything about his contact with Penn State while saying that the Browns have all of his attention at the moment.
“I’m really focused on trying to play good offensive football, get a young quarterback ready to play, support our players,” Rees said. “Some of those things are flattering and you listen as a competitor, but, for me, my focus is really how can we score enough points to win a game. How can we put our young players, put our quarterback, put our offense in the right positions to have success. How to lead our staff — that’s really where my focus is right now.”
Rees was asked a followup about interest in the opening at the University of Michigan and reiterated that he’s focused on the Browns.
Rees was an offensive coordinator at Notre Dame and Alabama before joining the Browns staff in 2024, so a return to the college ranks wouldn’t be an out of left field move for his next step up the coaching ladder. If Michigan is going to be a consideration on that front, there will likely be word about it in the near future.
It’s usually a positive to find your way into the NFL record book, but Bears quarterback Caleb Williams knows one way he’d avoid being commemorated.
Williams and the Bears will face the Browns this weekend, which means they’ll be tangling with defensive end Myles Garrett as he closes in on the NFL’s single-season sack record. Garrett has 20 sacks on the season and needs three more to take sole control of the mark, so one of Williams’ goals for the week is to avoid being dropped three times while trying to pass.
“Obviously, he’s right there at the sack record, almost there at the sack record,” Williams said, via Chris Easterling of the Akron Beacon Journal. “And so, I’m going to try and make sure that he doesn’t get the sack record on us and on me.”
Williams has been sacked 20 times this season, which is a big upgrade on the league-high 68 times that he was dropped during his rookie season. Packers head coach Matt LaFleur suggested last weekend that some of their success in protection has come because they’re getting away with holding and the Bears figure to try everything they can to make sure that Garrett doesn’t wreck things this weekend.
Shedeur Sanders said on Wednesday that he’s focused on being the Browns’ starting quarterback in Week 15 and not on the final three weeks of the season.
Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski said this week that Sanders will be the team’s starter for the rest of the regular season. That commitment gives Sanders, who has started the last three games, an extended chance to make his case for the job in 2026, but he said at a press conference that he’s only looking at this week when asked about the implications of Stefanski’s announcement.
“Yeah, that’s a long, deep thought,” Sanders said, via a transcript from the team. “Like, that’s not in my focus. My focus right now is the team we’re playing ahead, the Bears — anything past that I’m not really focused on, honestly. I’m thankful for it, but I’m not content with my situation, with everything. And we’re leading this team.”
Sanders made his debut in the second half of a Week 11 loss to the Ravens. He has gone 50-of-87 for 722 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions since becoming the starter.
The Browns signed cornerback Tre Avery from the practice squad to the active roster, the team announced Wednesday.
Avery is in his fourth season out of Rutgers, having originally signed with the Titans as an undrafted free agent in 2022.
He has appeared in 44 career games, including six with the Browns this season.
Avery has seen action on 12 defensive snaps and 67 on special teams, totaling seven tackles. In his career, he has totaled 72 tackles, seven passes defensed and a fumble recovery in 44 games.
The Browns waived safety Christopher Edmonds in a corresponding move.
