LAKE FOREST, In poor health. — The Chicago Bears’ injury-depleted vast receiver corps acquired a lift of optimism Friday, as Keenan Allen and Rome Odunze have been designated as questionable for “Sunday Evening Soccer” in opposition to the Houston Texans and coach Matt Eberflus stated the crew would deal with each as game-time selections.
Allen (heel) didn’t follow for a 3rd straight day Friday whereas Odunze (knee) was a restricted participant after two days with the DNP designation.
“We’ll take all of it the way in which as much as the sport, probably work them out earlier than the sport after which see the place they’re previous to the sport,” Eberflus stated. “That is the place these guys are.”
Allen, 32, injured his heel on the finish of the preseason however performed within the Bears’ season-opening win over the Tennessee Titans. He was on the sphere for 38 of Chicago’s 53 offensive snaps and caught 4 of 11 targets for 29 yards, ending the sport regardless of showing to reinjure his heel within the third quarter, which led to a short go to within the medical tent.
The coach was requested whether or not Allen being a veteran and having already performed by the harm provides him a greater probability of being out there in Houston.
“I consider that is true,” Eberflus stated. “I additionally consider that with an skilled participant that he is in a position to, and he is performed so many video games, that you simply’re in a position to enter him into the sport plan quite a bit simpler than, say, a rookie.”
Odunze, the No. 9 decide on this 12 months’s draft, stated he felt a “pop” in his knee when he was hit at the back of his left leg by Titans linebacker Harold Landry III as Landry tackled Bears working again Velus Jones Jr. within the fourth quarter. Odunze grew to become snarled and went to the bottom awkwardly. He wore a sleeve on his proper leg at follow this week and was seen with a wrap round his proper knee Friday.
Having by no means sustained a knee harm earlier than, Odunze famous elevated soreness Sunday night and Monday morning. That prompted him to endure medical analysis and an MRI, which revealed an MCL sprain.
Eberflus categorized the rookie as day-to-day however stated Odunze’s harm was “nothing critical” earlier within the week. Odunze stated medical doctors advised him the knee doesn’t have any structural injury.
“It is similar to any harm in the truth that it is a ache degree, ache tolerance factor,” Odunze stated. “I believe whenever you’ve answered the query whether or not it is structurally sound and whether or not or not you are susceptible to additional injuring it, I believe that is the No. 1 query it’s essential to reply. Then after that it is, ‘Are you able to be your self on the market? Are you able to play by the ache?'”
Odunze, who was focused 4 instances in his NFL debut and caught one go for 11 yards, stated he felt “fairly stable” in his restricted follow motion Friday.
Eberflus stated the Bears base their participant utilization on whether or not “the man [is] 100% or not 100%,” which is one thing the crew should decide over the subsequent 48 hours because it will get a greater sense of Allen’s and Odunze’s availability. With three wholesome receivers — DJ Moore, DeAndre Carter and Tyler Scott — the Bears may look to advertise Collin Johnson or Samori Toure as normal follow squad elevations.
With rookie quarterback Caleb Williams aiming to place collectively a greater efficiency in his first NFL highway recreation after throwing for 93 yards with zero touchdowns in opposition to the Titans, getting the Bears’ finest gamers on the sphere on the identical time is a focus for offensive coordinator Shane Waldron.
Moore, Allen and Odunze, Chicago’s prime three receivers, have been on the sphere collectively for 25 snaps in opposition to the Titans. That quantity dropped to 9 when the Bears’ prime three wideouts shared the sphere with working again D’Andre Swift and tight finish Cole Kmet.
“We get in a few of these video games the place we get in just a little little bit of an up-and-down rhythm all through the course of a recreation, a few of these personnel pairings that we’re seeking to get to essentially did not play out the way in which we have been hoping to so far as the course of the sport,” Waldron stated Thursday. “And it will be robust every week, clearly, to have an ideal distribution of everybody’s reps proper there, however it’s one thing we have a look at as a workers to how we are able to do a greater job to assist our guys, get in that rotation and get these guys on the market collectively extra usually.”
