Bear Digest

Time for Luther Burden to step up with Bears ruling Rome Odunze out

Chicago Bears injury report: The Bears will need to rely on other receivers besides their top pass catcher come Sunday at Green Bay.
Gene Chamberlain|
Luther Burden III is off to the races against Pittsburgh in a 31-28 Bears win.
Luther Burden III is off to the races against Pittsburgh in a 31-28 Bears win. | Mike Dinovo-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

For the first time, the Bears won't have Rome Odunze available in a game.

The impact on their offense could be fascinating.

Odunze's foot injury kept him out of practice all week and he has been labeled out, along with cornerback Tyrique Stevenson (hip) and linebacker Ruben Hyppolite II (shoulder).

The positive side of the injury report is linebackers T.J. Edwards and Noah Sewell and running back Kyle Monangai are good to play after practicing on Friday and were removed from the injury report.

Odunze's situation is interesting and it goes beyond the fact now his  father won't have anything to tweet about on social media.

Without Odunze, quarterback Caleb Williams will need to lean more heavily on DJ Moore, something he hasn't seemed willing to do ever since coming to Chicago. Also, it's going to open the way for Luther Burden to get more targets. He's been wide 51.9% of the time and in the slot 47.3%, but often isn't seen on the outside routes.

Williams has been most effective throwing the inside routes.

"So it's an area that he has improved dramatically since I since I got here, from springtime all the way up to this point," Ben Johnson said prior to the Eagles game. "So I think he's got a lot more confidence throwing those things inside the numbers."

It's also a chance for Olamide Zaccheaus to redeem himself. Since he had a nightmare game dropping passes against the Giants, he has had only four targets with three catches for 25 yards. He'd been averaging 39 plays a game but has had just 19 a game since the dropped passes.

It could also impact their ability to break runs for longer gains. Both

Burden and Zaccheaus rate lower in Pro Football Focus run-blocking grades.

Bottom line is Odunze is their leading receiver this season, although his impact has declined in the last three games. He has one touchdown catch in the last eight games and has averaged just 2.6 catches in the last five games.

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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.