Bear Digest

Rome Odunze Sees Connection Building in Spite of Injuries

Rome Odunze is starting to make the rookie connection with QB Caleb Williams work in spite of an early start slowed by injuries and a stagnant offense.

Gene Chamberlain

Rome Odunze hauls in his first career touchdown catch on a 1-yard pass from Caleb Williams against the Colts.
Rome Odunze hauls in his first career touchdown catch on a 1-yard pass from Caleb Williams against the Colts. / Christine Tannous/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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The seed was planted.

If the growing season takes much longer, the Bears might find themselves mired in last in the bottom of the NFC North.

Rookie wide receiver Rome Odunze caught a deep pass from Caleb Williams and it seemed to ignite the passing game last week against the Indianapolis Colts, as the two hooked up six times for 112 yards. They're hoping it was the key to unlocking an attack still trying to figure out where to go and what to do in Week 4.

"It just starts with a seed with those deep balls and those big plays down the field," Odunze said. "It's something small and one of those plays happening that can continue to be an asset for us the entire season."

Odunze came out of Week 1 with a sprained knee but quickly recovered enough to stay in the lineup. He moved on with Williams as the passing game went for 363 yards last week and thinks he's figuring out the way to attack NFL defenses from a receiver standpoint.

"I'm getting there, for sure," Odunze said. "I'm starting to understand things a little bit quicker and I alluded to that when I talked to (media) the first couple weeks when things started to speed up.

"Coming from the first week to second week and finally this last week, things are getting there. There's still some things that I need to pick up on a little bit quicker and play faster with. Improvements."

Odunze had a hip injury Wednesday and in Thursday's practice was limited by the Bears, but the injury isn't expected to be serious. The bigger concern was his knee, which caused him to actually miss practices earlier.

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"My knee's solid," Odunze said. "My knee's solid. Still getting there. Still getting back to feeling 100%, but I feel pretty confident on it and continuing to get better."

The advancement he showed at the goal line in making his first TD catch on a 1-yard lob, and while hauling in a 47-yard bomb over his shoulder from Williams make it possible he could be capable at an early stage of leading the offense out of its doldrums. It was basic stuff, Odunze said.

"Just playing with speed, playing with confidence and knowing my playbook out and in, just knowing exactly what my responsibilities are on every single play and I have the skillset to get the job done on every single one of those," he said. "Kind of my same process, but finally seeing those things push through."

It's bolstered his confidence.

"It's huge for me, honestly, to be able to feel all those things and go through a game and experience all those different adversities that go on within an NFL game," Odunze said. "To finally see those things happen is kind of a gradual progression of finally feeling and playing like myself.

"Those things came to fruition last week, and hopefully we can continue to take steps toward even better in the weeks to come."

Odunze saw the big effort as only a start for the connection with Williams and not what the finished product can resemble.

"The game we had? It's a chapter," he said. "It think it's just that. It's a chapter and it's a part of our journey, but it's not the end-all be-all. It was a great connection that we had on that game but it wasn't enough to get the W either.

"It's kind of bittersweet. It's things you can look at and be like, yeah, I need to do a little more of that, and there's things you can look at and say, 'hey, I didn't do that very well,'

 and things to improve on. So it's a chapter that we'll continue to learn from regardless of it all."

If they get back Keenan Allen from a heel injury this week, as it appears the trajectory of his recovery is headed, then Odunze sees things opening up even more for himself and Williams.

"A 12-year vet? The Hall of Famer? Oh man, I couldn't tell you how that's going to help," Odunze said. "Nah, just playing. It's Keenan Allen, bro. He's going to go out there and provide problems for the defense, tell us different things during the course of the game to help us out and continue to be Keenan Allen, the weapon that he is.

"That’s going to provide problems for the defense, not knowing who to guard out there, who to cover, who to emphasize and allow more things to open up."

Twitter: BearsOnSI

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.