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Bears WR Rome Odunze Admits Broken Foot May Never Feel Fully Normal Again

Rome Odunze says his foot may never feel the same after last year's fracture, but the Bears wideout believes the injury won't slow his 2026 breakout bid.
Gene Chamberlain|
Rome Odunze is over the broken foot he had last season but it has left a reminder for him.
Rome Odunze is over the broken foot he had last season but it has left a reminder for him. | Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

Bears wide receiver Rome Odunze might never be the same again after his foot injury last year.

This doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad thing or must slow Odunze down, it’s just the way his foot healed from an injury that kept him out of five regular-season games last year.

“This is my new normal,” Odunze said. “And it’s not from a standpoint that I’m always in pain but the way my foot broke there’s callouses in there that, like, creates a different type of foot structure with those bones — different types of things that kind of shift things around.

“So my new normal was kind of what I am going into. And I don’t think that’s anything that’s going to prohibit me from making plays but I feel like with the break it’s just like when you tear your AC it’s never really back to normal.”

His last insight described it best.

“It’s a little different, but we go on,” he said.  

This doesn’t seem to be affecting Odunze much at all in OTAs. He caught several timing passes downfield in Wednesday’s practice and had a deep ball from Caleb Williams in the second practice last week.

He continues to work at rehab and strengthening the foot even though it has healed as well as it can.

“I feel like if you break a bone you’ve always got to make sure you’re on top of it,” Odunze said. “I continue to do rehab on it, making sure I’m keeping it strong. And that’s both feet whether it comes to different exercises that they give me in the rehab as well that I do off the field.

“But I feel like yeah you‘ve got to stay on top of it regardless of it’s 100 (percent) or not.  I feel like it’s hard to say it’s like 100, I feel like when we’re in  the Super Bowl and win that I feel like it will be 100.”

Odunze didn’t have surgery after he went out following the win over Philadelphia, or even after the season. He refused to go on IR and came back to play in the two playoff games, although he had a dropped pass at the goal line against the Rams.

“I feel like doctors advised that it  was something that we can monitor but they definitely feel like it was something that can heal without surgery, so that’s kind of the process that I went towards because I don’t like putting any metal or rods into my foot,” Odunze said. “So yeah, it was a question but I feel like the process we went was adequate.”

While it’s never good news to hear a player isn’t 100% or expects to be 100%, his comment on living with the new normal is not unlike what numerous other football players have said after injuries from broken bones to a torn Achilles or an ACL.

Odunze did admit his play could have been affected by the injury, even if he wasn’t intending to use it as an alibi for any poor plays.

“You know I think there definitely was a little bit of that,” he said. “I was rehabbing the foot. I’ve never really had an injury like that. That was kind of prohibiting me in that way. But I’m the type of person at the same time that don’t want to provide those excuses for myself at the end of the day.

“So it’s like if the ball’s not caught, the ball’s not caught regardless of if I’m running on one foot or whatever it is. That’s my standard and that’s my expectation and I didn’t do it well enough.”

Bears coach Ben Johnson said they appreciated his ability to try to fight through the broken foot last year, even as Odunze fights through a foot that feels different now. Johnson did mention the missed games from last year, though. Availability remains the best ability in the NFL.

"He's a team player," Johnson said. "He's going to lay it out on the line every time he gets on the grass, and so I think his teammates appreciate that.

"His coaching staff certainly appreciates that, and, you know? Hopefully we can get him 17-plus games this year and, you know, his career will really take off for that."

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.

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