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By Rowan Fisher-Shotton
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Last season was supposed to be the breakout for Chicago Bears wide receiver Rome Odunze. Now, he doesn't have any excuses.
Through the first four weeks of the 2025 season, Odunze looked like he was going to emerge as the NFL's next elite wideout. He posted 296 yards and five touchdowns on 20 catches, averaging 14.8 yards per catch — a pace that would have put him over 1,200 yards receiving.
Then, a stress fracture in his left foot threw everything off. He appeared on the injury report from Week 9 on and eventually missed the last five games of the season. He finished with just 661 receiving yards and six touchdowns on 44 catches in 12 games.
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Those are respectable numbers, but nowhere near the pace he was on, or what the Bears drafted him to be when they took him ninth overall in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Now, he has no choice but to emerge as the WR1. Chicago traded DJ Moore to Buffalo in the offseason and didn't bring in anybody else capable of stealing legitimate targets, with Odunze, last year's second-round pick Luther Burden III, and veteran Kalif Raymond expected to lead the wide receiver room.
Odunze has a real path to becoming Caleb Williams' unquestioned No. 1 target, and given his draft capital, that's what fans are expecting.
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With Moore gone, many expect a chunk of those lost targets to go to second-year tight end Colston Loveland, who actually led the Bears in receiving yards (713), touchdowns (six), and catches (58) last year, despite coming on late, or to Burden. But a down year probably wouldn't change much for either of them — they're both younger and still developing. Odunze doesn't have that luxury.
Through two NFL seasons, Odunze has yet to record a single 1,000-yard campaign, and with Ben Johnson entering his second year running the show and Williams beginning to emerge as one of the best quarterbacks in football, this passing offense is expected to take off.
Chicago's front office clearly believes Odunze can be the guy leading it. After trading Moore, who racked up 148 receptions on 225 targets and 1,648 receiving yards over the last two seasons, they brought in almost zero real competition at receiver. But Odunze has to show the organization that they were right to have so much confidence in him.
Establish himself as a true WR1, and a lucrative second contract could come at the end of the 2026 season. Another sub-1,000-yard season, though, and people will start to question whether Odunze can truly be the focal point of the Bears' offense.
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