The Bears\u2019 Rome Odunze was worried about staying afloat as a rookie. \u201cHe was battling himself,\u201d receiver DJ Moore said. The best part about being a sophomore is that you\u2019re no longer a freshman. Odunze understands how quickly catching windows close in the NFL and what drills he needs to do to put his body in the right position to make catches. He\u2019s adapted to the speed of the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo we think he was good? Or do we want to be great?\u201d Moore said. \u201cNow he\u2019s taken that step to be great.\u201d Odunze might be the only one inside Halas Hall that can make that claim after two weeks. The Bears have the worst defense in football, an inconsistent quarterback and a special teams unit that has missed a field goal, had a punt blocked, kicked the ball out of bounds when it shouldn\u2019t have and decided against kicking the ball out of play when it should have. They\u2019ve blown a lead and, the following week, have been boat-raced.<\/p>\n
Odunze, though, has looked the part of a No. 1 receiver. His 165 receiving yards ranks ninth in the NFL. He\u2019s tied for the NFL lead with three touchdown catches \u2014 as many as he had all last year. \u201cIt\u2019s understanding the game and the NFL and the work you have to put in even to get to this level,\u201d Odunze said. \u201cYou have to take it up a whole another notch to get to one of the greats in this league. That\u2019s obviously one of my goals, to leave my mark on this game and in the NFL, coming out as one of the best.<\/p>\n
He has a chance to ramp it up even further Sunday against the Cowboys. Matt Eberflus\u2019 defense gave up 450 passing yards to the Giants\u2019 Russell Wilson last week, the 10th-most a quarterback has totaled the past five years. Lead receiver Malik Nabers, who was chosen three spots ahead of Odunze in last year\u2019s draft, had 167 receiving yards, the most by any receiver this season. He leads the NFL with 238 receiving yards. \u201cWe just gotta continue to emulate some of those things that those offenses did,\u201d Odunze said, \u201cas well as adding our flavor, our own little tone to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eberflus, though, knows quarterback Caleb Williams better than any opposing coach. He\u2019ll try to dial up schemes to stop the quarterback \u2014 and his favorite target. Ben Johnson, Eberflus\u2019 replacement, has long admired Odunze\u2019s ability to win one-on-one matchups. He\u2019s been surprised, though, by his ability to separate from defenders. \u201cIt\u2019s a unique skillset,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re still working through his route tree. There\u2019s a number of things we\u2019ve introduced to this offense that he\u2019s really taken to, and we\u2019re continuing to push the limit each week and have him do some things that we haven\u2019t asked him to do yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
For all those skills \u2014 \u201cHe\u2019s a walking 1,000-yard receiver in any offense,\u201d safety Kevin Byard said \u2014 Odunze never really got on track last year. He and Williams talked up their connection, but Odunze\u2019s 734 receiving yards ranked 46th in the league. Amazingly, eight of his 17 games produced two or fewer receptions. Another offseason working together, though, has produced better results. \u201cHe\u2019s got a natural connection here with Rome that you see all the time,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n
Growing Williams\u2019 game is the most important thing the Bears can do this season \u2014 and is the fastest way out of the struggles that have dogged them for two weeks. More than any other player on the roster, Odunze holds the key to unlocking him. \u201cI know he\u2019s just a second-year player,\u201d Johnson said, \u201cbut he\u2019s very much a complete receiver.\u201d<\/p>\n
Q: What were Rome Odunze’s concerns as a rookie?
\nA: Rome Odunze was worried about staying afloat as a rookie and was battling himself.
\nQ: How has Odunze’s performance been in the current season?
\nA: Odunze has looked the part of a No. 1 receiver, with 165 receiving yards ranking ninth in the NFL and three touchdown catches, tying him for the NFL lead.
\nQ: What challenge does Odunze face in the upcoming game against the Cowboys?
\nA: Odunze faces the challenge of Matt Eberflus\u2019 defense, which gave up 450 passing yards to the Giants\u2019 Russell Wilson last week.
\nQ: What is Ben Johnson’s assessment of Odunze’s skills?
\nA: Ben Johnson admires Odunze\u2019s ability to win one-on-one matchups and has been surprised by his ability to separate from defenders, calling it a unique skillset.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Introduction to Rome Odunze’s Journey The Bears\u2019 Rome Odunze was worried about staying afloat as a rookie. \u201cHe was battling himself,\u201d receiver DJ Moore said. The best part about being a sophomore is that you\u2019re no longer a freshman. Odunze understands how quickly catching windows close in the NFL and what drills he needs to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28680,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-28679","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/d67a859\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/4519x2580+0+0\/resize\/1461x834!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F23%2F03%2F2a330d9b4156907d7b35a8b5dcb5%2Fbears-091525-80.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28679"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28679"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28681,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28679\/revisions\/28681"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}