Chicago Bears will be without 2 rotational players Sunday, Rome Odunze & Keenan Allen are game-time decision

LAKE FOREST, Ill. - The Chicago Bears' final injury report before Sunday Night Football has the Bears without two depth pieces.

Their two starting receivers, however, are still questionable to play.

Offensive lineman Ryan Bates and fullback Khari Blasingame are out against the Houston Texans. Rome Odunze and Keenan Allen are questionable.

Allen did not practice on Friday. Odunze did practice but was limited. It remains to be seen if the Bears will exercise caution with Odunze's MCL injury.

Both Allen and Odunze are game-time decisions on Sunday.

Odunze said he felt kind of a pop in his knee in the fourth quarter of Sunday's win and knew something wasn't right. He tried to walk it off and see how it felt, but he didn't want to push it. Odunze said consultations with a doctor concluded he would not be at risk of further damage if he played the injury.

"That's not their opinion of it," Odunze said. "If there was any risk of anything further than it, I wouldn't (play)."

Odunze was just about as cautious as could be when he recognized the injury was in his knee. It's the first knee injury he's had to navigate in his career and he'll keep monitoring.

"It's precautionary," Odunze said. "Knowing what I've heard from the doctors and what they're saying on the structure of it gave me the confidence to go out there today and practice. I think going forward it'll be a continuing conversation."

The Bears would like to have a full offensive attack against a team that has Super Bowl aspirations. Odunze and Allen would be key pieces to that offensive attack.

That offense will be without Bates, who came in against the Titans and rotated at right guard with Nate Davis. Bates stepped in at guard when Davis missed time in training camp with an injury and is a key depth piece at guard and center.

Bears' offensive line coach Chris Morgan said the plan to rotate Davis and Bates was because the two had dealt with injuries in camp. 

"Both of those guys were dealing with some things within the last month, so that kind of plays into it," Morgan said. "I think it kind of just depends on the situation and both of those guys, when you have two guys that have played a lot of ball and two guys that are quality players, it's not just cookie cutter."

Now, the Bears won't have the chance to rotate against Houston. Instead, the Bears will look to players like Bill Murray and Matt Pryor to fill in the backup spot at right guard.