Bears injury report: Luther Burden III will play vs. 49ers; Rome Odunze remains out
UPDATE: The Bears made some roster moves Saturday afternoon ahead of the Sunday night matchup against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium.
Darnell Wright was added to the injury report with an illness and will not travel with the team Saturday. The Bears’ starting right tackle now is listed as questionable for the Week 17 game. He becomes the latest player to be impacted by an illness and joins Josh Blackwell, Devin Duvernay, D’Marco Jackson and Nick McCloud, who are also feeling under the weather.
The Bears haven’t ruled out Wright, but if he isn’t able to play Sunday, this wouldn’t be the first game that head coach Ben Johnson has been without his premium right tackle. Wright missed the Week 4 matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders with an elbow injury, and Theo Benedet started in his place. Toward the end of the first half, Benedet then replaced Braxton Jones at left tackle and Ozzy Trapilo filled in on the right side.
Trapilo has started at left tackle for the last five games, and Benedet has played just four total offensive snaps since the Week 13 game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Bears also activated offensive lineman Luke Newman from injured reserve and added him to the 53-man roster. Defensive tackle Jonathan Ford was released. Chicago also elevated wide receiver JP Richardson and cornerback Dallis Flowers from the practice squad for Sunday night’s game against the 49ers.
The Bears were missing two key receivers in last week’s win over the Green Bay Packers. Rome Odzune (foot) and Luther Burden III (ankle) were missed, even if DJ Moore and undrafted rookie Jahdae Walker came through huge in a 22-16 victory at Soldier Field.
There was some positive movement getting at least one of those two back, with Burden showing up as limited on the practice report. Burden did not receive a designation on the official Bears injury report, which was released by the team on Friday, and will play the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday night.
News on Odunze wasn’t as positive. He missed another week’s work and was ruled out of this contest. All is not lost with Odunze, who is dealing with a stress fracture in his foot. Head coach Ben Johnson said earlier in the week that Odunze could well return at some point this season.
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“We’ve been working through his rehab process,” Johnson said Tuesday. “He’s right on track. He’s going to be in a good spot. He’s going to be able to help us this year.”
The Bears had some other issues on the injury report, most notably with interior linebacker T.J. Edwards. He missed early practice with a glute injury but was limited on Friday and designated as questionable.
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McCloud was ruled out, and Blackwell was listed as questionable, though the others will play.
Every-down cornerback Nahshon Wright is questionable with a hamstring issue and the illness that is causing trouble in the Bears’ locker room.
Slot corner C.J. Garnder-Johnson, who exited the Packers game early, is formally questionable with a knee injury suffered last week. The Bears will be in some trouble if he can’t go and McCloud, his primary backup, is unavailable, and Kyler Gordon is on IR. Blackwell can play in the slot as well.
Safety Kevin Byard (ankle) and center Drew Dalman (ankle/hand) were notable starters on the participation report, but they’ll be good to go against the 49ers.
Here’s the full Bears injury report:


