Of the many takeaways you could have from the first month of the Chicago Bears‘ 2025 season, arguably the most promising one relates to second-year receiver Rome Odunze. Coming off of a so-so rookie season in which he failed to put up the numbers many of his rookie contemporaries did, there remained plenty of optimism surrounding Odunze heading into the 2025 campaign, and in a small sample size, Odunze has proven it was all warranted.
Through the first four weeks of the season, Odunze ranks 8th in the NFL in receiving yards, 6th in yards per reception (among pass-catchers with at least 20 catches) and 2nd in receiving touchdowns. He’s clearly established himself as the preferred target of second-year quarterback Caleb Williams, and amazing, Odunze finds himself on pace to at the very least threaten multiple single-season Bears receiving records.
While Chicago doesn’t have a track record of producing the most spectacular passing attacks, this is the oldest franchise in the NFL, so if any present player does anything to scale the record book, it’s notable. And while Odunze still has a long way to go to make good on this promising start, even if he ends up falling short, it’s no longer a question as to whether Odunze will become the guy the Bears hoped he would.
Assuming he keeps up at the pace he’s been at so far this season — and again, with only four games in the bank, these numbers could fluctuate greatly over the next three months — Odunze will finish the season with 85 receptions for 1,258 yards and 17 receiving touchdowns.
If those were Rome Odunze’s season-ending splits, he’d finish the year with the 13th-most receptions and 7th-most receiving yards in a single-season in Bears history, and he’d easily break Dick Gordon and Ken Kavenaugh’s shared record of 13 receiving touchdowns. Not too bad considering Odunze is only 23 years old.
Ben Johnson, Caleb Williams and Rome Odunze Are a Trio Bears Fans Can Be Excited About
Even after an offseason in which Bears general manager Ryan Poles attempted to remedy a number of Chicago’s shortcomings, there are still issues with the way this roster has been constructed. But for a second, instead of dwelling on the negatives, let’s celebrate the fact that the Bears have a head coach (Ben Johnson), quarterback (Caleb Williams) and wide receiver (Rome Odunze) trio that’s worth being legitimately excited about.
Quite literally, this has never been in the case in the century-long history of the Chicago Bears. And now all the sudden, this franchise that has been starved for offensive competency for decades  is in the infancy stages of watching a quarterback and wide receiver tandem that, if all things go as planned, will end up with countless career records in Chicago.
Of course, so much of this has to do with Ben Johnson, who has made life far easier for both Williams and Odunze, utilizing the skillsets of both players in appropriate ways, and scheming up looks where Odunze is wide open down the field. That sounds like a low bar, but it’s one that Matt Eberflus couldn’t clear last year with Williams and Odunze at his disposal, and one that various coaches have failed to overcome in previous regimes with their respective QB-WR tandems.
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