Bears 'maniac' Rome Odunze trending toward his best season

Steph Chambers/Getty SHARE COPY LINK Share CLOSE Twitter Facebook Bluesky Email Reddit Flipboard Standing in the raucous Bears locker room Monday night in Seattle, wide receiver Kalif Raymond was asked what he saw on the screen pass that he took 39 yards in the fourth quarter to seal the 34-17 victory against the Seahawks . ‘‘Rome Odunze,’’ he said. Odunze was stacked in front of Raymond on third-and-nine from the Seahawks’ 44 with the Bears holding a suddenly precarious three-point lead. Right tackle Darnell Wright let edge rusher DeMarcus Lawrence sprint toward quarterback Caleb Williams — who had to sidearm the ball around him — so he could race out to block safety Nick Emmanwori. Right guard Jonah Jackson got just enough of a block on linebacker Ernest Jones to slow him down. Odunze sealed off cornerback Josh Jobe, pushing him toward the sideline. Raymond ran through the tunnel for the huge gain. ‘‘If [Odunze] doesn’t get that block, the screen doesn’t go,’’ Raymond said. He wasn’t surprised. ‘‘He does it every single time,’’ Raymond said. ‘‘That dude is a maniac.’’ The Bears didn’t draft Odunze ninth overall in 2024 for his blocking prowess. When they weigh whether to extend his contract — as soon as the offseason — they’ll look more at his receiving yards than at the dirty work he does. The combination of the two, however, is compelling. Entering the Bears’ game Sunday night against the Buccaneers, Odunze is on pace for the best season of his three-year career. ‘‘I’m on a mission to become a complete wide receiver,’’ Odunze said. ‘‘Whether that’s blocking, catching passes, YAC [yards after catch], spectacular catches — whatever that is, I’m trying to do a lot of those different things. Blocking is a part of that, especially in this offense, and I’m trying to be excellent at it.’’ His production is ticking up, too, and it’s about time. In the Bears’ first three games this season, Odunze caught eight passes on 13 targets for 139 yards. In the five since, he has caught 20 passes on 31 targets for 329 yards. ‘‘The ball’s finding me,’’ he said. That hasn’t always been the case. Odunze was hampered by a pop-gun passing attack in his rookie season and posted only 734 receiving yards. Then he was hampered by a chronic foot injury last season and had only 661. This season, he’s on pace for 994 receiving yards. In a league in which 19 players had 1,000 or more last season, that’s more in line with the Bears’ expectations. Odunze gives the Bears what other receivers can’t: He’s their deep threat. He’s 10th in the NFL in targeted air yards, which measures how far the ball flies in the air on passes in his direction. Luther Burden, the next-highest-ranked Bears receiver, is 76th. Coach Ben Johnson’s offense doesn’t try to feed one receiver or focus on one at a given time. Amazingly, Odunze has 14 catches for 234 yards in the first half of games this season and 14 catches for 234 yards in the second half of games. In addition to Odunze, Burden, tight end Colston Loveland, running back D’Andre Swift and Raymond have led the team in receiving yards in a game this season. ‘‘Sometimes that’s how it is when you have so many good playmakers out on the field,’’ Odunze said. ‘‘Sometimes there can be different lulls in getting the ball or not.’’ Williams has thrived in his second season throwing to Burden and Loveland and his third throwing to Odunze. ‘‘That’s big,’’ Williams said. ‘‘The communication, our relationship as a group has grown. We hang out together. We do things together. We eat together, break bread together. You start building that relationship and that bond between each other. ‘‘They’re super-talented, so my job is just to put the ball in the area and try to give them the best ball I can each and every time.’’ Receivers, of course, rather would be known for what they do with the ball in their hands. Odunze won’t apologize for wanting it. ‘‘We’ve got a bunch of ballplayers,’’ he said. ‘‘We all want the ball. You can ask every receiver around the league, ‘Who wants more targets?’ And they’ll say, ‘Me.’ ’’ Johnson has a saying, however: ‘‘No block, no rock.’’ ‘‘It’s all in between the ears, as much as anything else,’’ Johnson said. ‘‘And that’s what we try to evaluate when guys are coming out of college because they’re not asked to do it a whole lot. You can get the technique and the fundamentals better through coaching, and yet you need to see that willingness to put their face in there and get dirty. ‘‘If you’re not doing that part of it, then it’s hard to have you out there. It’s a big part of our offense.’’ Rewarding Odunze with the ball makes sense. ‘‘That’s the perfect scenario for us,’’ Johnson said. 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