In Week 9 last season against the Cincinnati Bengals, the Chicago Bears scored 47 points and put up 576 yards of offense. Wide receiver Rome Odunze was totally absent from that stat sheet, going catchless on three targets, but his contributions were still noted by no less an authority than the Bears' social media team.
That game also marked the start of how a lingering foot injury affected Odunze's 2025 season. He would play a few more games before missing the final five regular season games. Operating a less than full strength, he still got after it as a carrier of the "no block, no rock" mentality Bears head coach Ben Johnson and wide receivers coach Antwaan Randle El want the team's pass catchers to have.
With that foot issue behind him, everyone wants to see the big season from Odunze that he was on track to deliver early last year. Offensive coordinator Press Taylor has revealed some intent to foster that post-hype breakout.
But there are a lot of mouths to feed in the Bears' offense, with the cliché of "there's only one football" to go around. Someone could end up taking a noticeable backseat in any given week, as Odunze did amid what was otherwise an offensive explosion against the Bengals last season.
How someone contributes (or doesn't) without the ball in their hands will clearly be noticed, and probably actively sought out, by the Bears' coaching staff when game tape is reviewed each week.
Ben Johnson lauds Rome Odunze as a tone setter for the Bears' offense
Speaking to the media, Johnson was asked to assess Odunze's performance during training camp.
"Rome? Yeah, Mr. Consistency...I know the dialogue about his foot, and all that...and yet you didn't see any setback from that regard. I thought he looked completely healthy. I showed a highlight to the team of him just the other day, cracking a safety in the joint practice (against the Tennessee Titans)."
"That inspires me to not want to get him the football, but I need to get him the football when I see things like that. He's doing all the little things, the things that maybe other people don't notice..and the coaching staff is very appreciative of, because it's going to help us win games. He's going to be a key cog of what we do."
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Every Bears wide receiver, even rookie Zavion Thomas, has already bought into everything that is wanted from the position. Odunze is a key example of that, as Johnson further proved by publicly highlighting an otherwise unnoticed play in a joint practice.
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