1. Should the Chicago Bears work Rome Odunze out of the slot more?
A lot of the most efficient play from Odunze has come when he is working out of the slot. The Bears are 7-14 when throwing to Odunze when is in the slot. That has resulted in 118 yards, 1.55 yards per route run. Of all Bears receivers, he is the best in the slot so far this year.
Odunze is 10-15 when being targeted on the outside, but he is producing just 0.96 yards per route run in this area. Odunze is projected to be an outside wideout, but so far this year it is simply not as productive as his work in the slot.
Odunze has 79 slot snaps, but just a 33.5% slot rate. Meanwhile, Allen has 66 snaps in the slot, but he is in the slot on 52% of his routes run.
When the Bears traded for Allen, it was clear he was their slot receiver, and that is where he was often aligned with the Chargers. However, he is averaging 0.72 yards per route, which is less than half as much production on a per-route basis.
The Bears may want to try a slot fade to Odunze to get him going with some deep balls out of the slot. They also may want to shift Allen outside. If he is less productive, who cares, it is not like he excelled in the slot. The key is getting the most out of Odunze moving forward.