Bears injury report: WR Rome Odunze practices again Friday, listed as questionable vs. Browns

Rome Odunze, the Bears’ leading wide receiver, has a chance at returning Sunday against the Browns after missing the first game of his career last week.

Odunze practiced Thursday and Friday, though he was limited, and is listed as questionable as he deals with a stress fracture in his foot. Odunze has 44 catches for 661 yards and six touchdowns, well ahead of DJ Moore, Olamide Zaccheaus and Luther Burden.

Bears coach Ben Johnson kept it vague when discussing the possibility of him playing, but said Odunze and injured cornerback Tyrique Stevenson took “a good step in the right direction.” Stevenson missed the last two games with a shoulder injury, but has no game status designation and will play.

Odunze has dealt with a heel injury most of the season, and the stress fracture appears to be a separate issue. The team has been trying to balance short-term demands — “We desperately need this win,” Johnson said — with trying to ensure he is available for huge upcoming games and, perhaps, the playoffs.

Without him last week, Burden was the Bears’ leading receiver with four catches for 67 yards. Zaccheaus had two catches for seven yards and a touchdown, and Moore had one catch for a loss of four.

The Bears need more from Moore regardless, but especially if Odunze is out or hampered. His production has dipped to the lowest of his career at 39 catches, 498 yards and three touchdowns, and he has a total of just 95 yards over his last five games.

“Can we dictate necessarily where the ball is going to go? Not all the time,” Johnson said. “I wasn’t anticipating him to come out of that game with only one catch. We had him out there as the primary for a number of instances and just couldn’t find a way to get him the ball, whether that’s coverage dictated or other things that go on within a play.”