Rome Odunze has made peace with his new normal. The Chicago Bears’ wide receiver was hampered by a foot injury for a significant portion of his second season with the team, and he missed the final five games of the 2025 regular season due to what the team described as a stress fracture. However, the 24-year-old’s future could remain uncertain, especially if Allen Robinson II’s comments are anything to go by.
Rome Odunze’s Career May Be in Jeopardy
Odunze was the Chicago Bears’ leading receiver before his injury, and he returned just in time to play against the Green Bay Packers in the Wild Card Round. However, head coach Ben Johnson was forced to sideline him for the remainder of the regular season to protect him ‘from himself’ after he suffered a setback during pregame warmups ahead of a game against the Cleveland Browns.
Recently, Robinson II shared a concerning message on X after seeing Dr. Jesse Morse’s post about Odunze’s injury. “Navicular fracture year 9. Just wasn’t the same!” he wrote.
Morse, who is a physician specializing in sports injuries and health optimization, expressed concern about Odunze’s future.
“This is going to be challenging for him [Odunze], and I could easily see this linger,” Morse wrote on X. “This may be the thing that allows Luther Burden and Colston Loveland to finish as top options at their position.”
Odunze’s health is even more significant for the Bears after the team traded veteran wide receiver DJ Moore to Buffalo in March. As a result, Chicago desperately needs the 24-year-old to regain the form he displayed at the beginning of last season.
Two months into the 2025 campaign, Odunze ranked 19th in the NFL in receiving yards while averaging 15.3 yards per catch. He was also tied for eighth in the league with five receiving touchdowns. Then came the injury setback, limiting him to just five more games, during which he added 188 receiving yards and one touchdown.
According to PFSN’s WR Impact Metric, Odunze posted an impact score of 76.3 last season, ranking 39th in the league. His ranking could have been much better had he not suffered the injury.
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“It was tough, it was tough,” Odunze said on Wednesday. “Obviously, I was gearing up for a great season. I felt like I was on track to have that. And injuries are part of the game. Unfortunately, I feel like it affected me more than injuries have in the past. That wasn’t obviously the goal. I have my goals for this season, and the injury kind of prohibited some of those things. But it’s part of the game. You go through that adversity and you’re better for it.”
While Dr. Morse expects Odunze to return within the next few weeks, the bigger challenge may be regaining the level of performance he showed before the injury.
“It’s not from a standpoint that I’m always in pain, but the way my foot broke, there are calluses in there that create a different type of foot structure with those bones,” Odunze said. “Different things have shifted around.”
As things stand, Odunze is working diligently to return to full fitness. He is undergoing rehabilitation exercises on both feet while continuing his regular training regimen. Ultimately, only time will tell how quickly he can rediscover the form that made him one of Chicago’s most productive offensive weapons.
