Less and less went right for the Chicago Bears as Sunday's game against the Detroit Lions went on, culminating in a 52-21 loss in head coach Ben Johnson's return to where he was so successful as the offensive coordinator for three years.
A lame mistake by the officials gave the Lions an opportunity to score late in the first half, and they stretched their lead to 28-14 with a touchdown, Then they scored 17 more unanswered points to put the game out of reach. More than anything else the Bears appeared to be broken by that turn of events before the halftime break, which is its own issue as Johnson tries to instill a resilient mentality in players Matt Eberflus and his staff broke psychologically last season.
All offseason and through the preseason, there was all kinds of positive buzz around Bears wide receiver Rome Odunze. In Week 1 against the Minnesota Vikings, he paid that off to some degree with a 25.7 percent target share from Caleb Williams and the Bears' only offensive touchdown after their opening drive.
It took Rome Odunze (less than) two games to become the Bears' WR1
When Sunday's game still competitive before the aforementioned moment late in the first half, Odunze had five receptions for 82 yards (on six targets) and two touchdowns. He finished the game with seven catches for 128 yards, on 11 targets. That was good for a 36.7 percent target share from Williams (who was pulled from the game late), and no other Bears' pass catcher had more than six targets in the game.
As Sunday's game got away from the Bears, Odunze's impact was more fleeting with 37 and nine yards on his only two second half catches during the same drive. Coincidentally, or probably not coincidentally even with the help of a roughing the passer penalty, that was the lone scoring drive in the second half for the Chicago offense.
Johnson has never hesitated to praise Odunze, even going so far as to label him the type of receiver he never really had in his Detroit offenses.
Bears' fans have been ready for Odunze to assert himself as the Bears' No. 1 wide receiver for months. He got into the grooves of that track in the season opener, then it came to full fruition on an otherwise dismal Sunday for the team in Detroit.
Read more: Ben Johnson accomplished an all-time low that even Matt Eberflus never reached
There's not a lot of good to cultivate from a 0-2 start, but Odunze quickly taking his rightful place in the offensive hierarchy is something the Bears can hang their hat on.