CHICAGO — Caleb Williams may be making career start No. 2 down two of his top three wide receivers when the Chicago Bears travel to play the Houston Texans on Sunday Night Football.
“In terms of our receivers, they’re questionable for the game. We’re going to take it up all the way to the game to see if they can go,” said Bears head coach Matt Eberflus Friday on Allen and Odunze’s injury situations. “[We’ll] potentially work them out before the game, and then we’ll see where they are prior to the game.”
Allen, who did not practice on Friday, has been hampered on and off by a nagging heel injury that Eberflus said goes back to training camp.
“It’s been progressing, then it took a step back, and then we just wanted to give it some rest,” Eberflus said. “That’s really what the idea was this week – Just to rest and let it heal, let it feel good so he can move and cut and do the things he does.”
Eberflus declined to comment on whether Allen reaggravated the injury during practice or during one of the Bears’ preseason games, saying instead “it’s both,” but being a veteran, he said Allen has a bit more leeway in dictating whether he’ll be ready to go by Sunday night.
“Being an experienced player, he’s played so many games that you’re able to input him into the game plan a lot easier than it would be say, a rookie,” Eberflus said.
While Allen was completely out of practice Friday, Odunze was listed as a limited participant, according to the team’s injury report.
The former Washington Huskie is battling a knee injury, but his condition can be considered a sign of improvement since he was held out of practice on Wednesday and Thursday before being upgraded to limited today.
Odunze told local media he hasn’t experienced an injury that’s caused him to miss an extended period of time before, but in his head coach’s eyes, that doesn’t cause concern to the point he needs to be cautious with his highly touted rookie wideout.
“No. I don’t think so,” Eberflus said. “We’ll see where it is come game time, and we’ll take it all the way up to the game.”
If Allen and Moore end up being inactive against the Texans, 15 of Williams’ 29 targets during their 24-17 win over the Tennessee Titans in Week 1 will be on the bench.
DJ Moore led the Bears receiving corps in yards and catches last week with five receptions for 36 yards, but Allen paced the group with 11 targets on his way to four catches for 29 yards.
Odunze was third on the target share list with four of his own, which resulted in one catch for 11 yards on a topsy turvy deflection at the two-minute mark in the second quarter.
Outside of those three, only one other player on the Bears’ roster had more than one target — Speedster return man DeAndre Carter, who had two.
Despite the injury status of his wide receivers, Eberflus said Williams has handled the turnaround from Week 1 well and is “in a good space in terms of mind, body and spirit.”
“When you’re the apex of the offense, you’ve really got to be able to flip it over in terms of your energy and positivity and determination to move on to the next game plan,” Eberflus said. “And that’s what he did.”
The Chicago Bears take on the Houston Texans Sunday, with kickoff set for 7:20 p.m. CT.