Bears’ Odunze, Burden ruled out against Packers

Bears quarterback Caleb Williams will be without two of his top targets against the Green Bay Packers on Saturday night at Soldier Field.

The Bears ruled out wide receivers Rome Odunze (foot) and rookie Luther Burden III (ankle). Both had missed practice all week with their respective injuries.

Saturday will mark the second straight game Odunze will miss while it’ll be the first for Burden. Odunze reaggravated his injury before Sunday’s game against the Cleveland Browns and Burden was hurt in the third quarter.

They’ve been among Williams’ favorite targets this season, especially Burden recently. Bears head coach Ben Johnson and the offensive staff will need to figure out how to make up for their production, which won’t be a first for the team this season.

“I mean, we just seem to figure it out, man,” tight end Cole Kmet said. “I think it’s always next-man-up mentality and I think we’ve really embodied that this year. There’s no hesitation from the coaching staff. You never feel that. They’re always on to the next when a guy goes down and they got a lot of faith in everybody that’s in here. So just next man up and continue to get after it.”

Chicago could get back defensive reinforcements. The Bears listed linebacker Tremaine Edmunds (groin) as questionable for Saturday’s game. He was a full participant Thursday for the first time since the team activated his 21-day practice window to come off injured reserve Monday.

Edmunds had been playing at an impressive clip before he got injured and had to miss the past four games. He would play a major factor Saturday, even on a snaps limit.

“He was playing tremendous football before the injury,” Johnson said. “He’s a huge asset in coverage. Because of how long he is, it’s hard to get the ball around him when we’re playing zones, and I think he’s really good in our match and man’s where he can match up on tight ends and running backs out of the backfield and do a really good job there.”

The Bears will be without linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga (hamstring), who was ruled out even though he returned to the practice field in limited fashion Thursday.

Kmet (ankle/knee), running back D’Andre Swift (groin) and defensive end Joe Tyron-Shoyinka (personal) were all ruled questionable for Saturday. Kmet improved to a full participant for the first time this week while Swift remained limited.

Backup quarterback Tyson Bagent (illness), defensive tackle Andrew Billings (illness) and running back Travis Homer (ankle) were full participants and had no designation for Saturday’s game.