Bears Assistant Coach Shares What He Wants to See From Rome Odunze in 2026

Rome Odunze didn't have the season he envisioned in 2025. 

After catching five touchdowns through the first four games, the Chicago Bears' wide receiver hauled in one more score for the remainder of the year. The former top-10 pick from Washington also missed the final five games of the regular season because of a stress fracture in his foot, an injury that he sustained in late October. 

The obstacles didn't end there for Odunze. He dropped five passes, second-most on the team last season. 

Assistant head coach/wide receivers coach Antwaan Randle El shared his thoughts on what happened with Odunze in those contested catch situations. 

"Without going into details, those are plays he knows he can make, and let’s make them," Randle El told reporters at Halas Hall on Thursday. "These are different ways that we can make these plays. You go back and you pull that film (from college) and match it up with the plays that he has made in the NFL as it relates to those 50/50 balls or what have you. The one thing you get is that the confidence is restored, let’s go do it from that standpoint. It’s just about showing him, and that’s what we’ve done and we fully expect him to go out and make those plays. And he does for himself too. He’s been critical of those plays that he didn’t make so he’ll, again, I go back to the idea of seeing it, realizing it and now let’s go out and attack it and be better in that area."

Rebuilding Odunze's confidence will be the first step for the Bears' wide receiver. What will help the young playmaker is simply returning for another year in coach Ben Johnson's offense. 

So much focus in 2025 was about installing plays and honing in on the details, which will still be important, but now Odunze and the rest of his teammates have established a foundation to build from as they prepare for this season. 

Caleb Williams will need Odunze to elevate his game, especially with veteran receiver DJ Moore no longer on the team. Randle El believes Odunze is in position to do just that. 

"I think it goes back to, again, this will be his third offseason but the second offseason in this offense," Randle El told reporters. "The hesitation is gone as it relates to ‘do I need run this route like this? Or like that?’ That’s one thing, when you get past that, things begin to grow even more. We had a little bit of that last year but you can see this offseason that he’s having has been great. I expect him to have a great year. We had a little things we had to tweak as we talked about player to coach and what do you want to work on and things that I saw. The biggest thing about him is that he receives it and is like ‘OK, let’s go work on it.’ And that’s been showing up on the film. The progression is there. It’s happening. So I expect him to have a big year for us, too."

Even in a down year, Odunze still put together some good film. He was one of the better receivers in the NFL at creating separation, and that was with a stress fracture in his foot for a good portion of the season. 

Although it's still early in the offseason, Randle El is already seeing improved "route running, catching the ball clean, coming out and running at the top of the routes, things of that nature as it relates to route running and playing the receiver position."

Randle El is confident that Odunze will rebound from his 2025 season, and the Bears' wide receiver will have to for Chicago's offense to take another jump this season.