Last season was not the best season for the Chicago Bears' wide receiver room, despite having three receivers go for over 650 yards.
The story was all the drops the receivers had, with Rome Odunze taking the most heat since he's considered WR1 on the team. Odunze's wide receiver coach, Antwaan Randle El, spoke with the media about his struggles with drops, but the Bears coach would not let Odunze take all the criticism for them.
"A lot of them, and again, it's not just him," Randle El said via CHGO. "We look at what we had last year, I think PFF had us at like 29 drops. We really had 43, according to our standards. It came back to, at the end of the day, these concentration drops. Like, you're not seeing the ball. Literally, you're taking your eyes off the ball. So, you go back and look at the drops we had, guys were taking their eyes off the ball, trying to run before they actually had it caught."
Rome Odunze and Bears' wide receivers have some work to do with drops
For the Bears to have 43 drops recorded from last year, that definitely means a lot of work has to be done on that. That is way too high a number if they want any success on offense in the future.
There have been some changes to the wide receiver group, as DJ Moore was traded to the Buffalo Bills for a second-round pick. That leaves Odunze and Luther Burden as the top guys, but the Bears also added Kalif Raymond in free agency and selected Zavion Thomas in the third round of the 2026 NFL Draft.
More pressure is on the two young receivers in Odunze and Burden to be the guys, as Burden had a solid rookie season once he got used correctly in the offense, but Odunze's foot injury prevented him from having a breakout season. WR3 might be just as important a position to get addressed as Raymond and Thomas will battle with Jahdae Walker for the job during a pivotal training camp for them.
Read more: NFL has been put on notice with Bears coach's warning about Caleb Williams
Bears quarterback Caleb Williams is progressing nicely in his career and has the capabilities of being a superstar, but he needs more help from his receivers. Odunze and company better be ready to step up in 2026.
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