Windy City Gridiron
Chicago Bears wide receiver Rome Odunze missed the final five games of the 2025 season due to a stress fracture in his foot, and while he returned for the Wild Card win against the Green Bay Packers, he’s still not healthy.
Earlier today, the Chicago Sun-Times’ Jason Lieser reported that Odunze said it was “tough” to manage the pain during his 54 snaps against the Packers.
“There was soreness,” Odunze said, “but at this part of the season, it’s all hands on deck and play through it. I’ll ride it ‘til the wheels fall off.”
It’s unknown exactly how Odunze initially suffered the injury, but following the Week 8 game against the Baltimore Ravens, Odunze missed Wednesday’s practice with a heel injury. The following week, he missed the Wednesday practice due to an ankle/heel injury. Before Week 11’s game, he missed Wednesday’s practice with an ankle injury.
He was off the injury report for Week 12 and Week 13 against the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles, but missed the Week 14 game (December 7) against the Packers due to a foot injury. The report of the stress fracture first came out on December 5.
Odunze was set to return the following week, but suffered a setback in his foot in the pregame warmups before the Cleveland Browns game on December 14, and he didn’t return until the Wild Card game.
Dr. Mason West, host of our Bear Bones on 2nd City Gridiron, says a stress fracture won’t heal until he’s able to shut it down with no football activity, and it’s generally a six to eight week recovery.
In the Bears’ win against the Packers, Odunze caught two passes (on six targets) for 44 yards, but one of those was the 27-yard pass on fourth and eight from Caleb Williams.
Here’s the Thursday injury report for both the Bears and the Los Angeles Rams ahead of their Divisional playoff game on Sunday. The final game day injury report will be out on Friday.
