Bears WR Rome Odunze Knows Exactly What He Needs to Improve in 2026

Chicago Bears wide receiver Rome Odunze has had an interesting 2026 season. 

He caught his first touchdown of the year in the 27-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday Night Football. Two plays before the 9-yard score on the Bears' opening drive of the game, he dropped a perfectly thrown pass from Caleb Williams in the end zone. 

That provides a snapshot of how Odunze's season has gone up to this point. The third-years receiver sits at 32 catches for 528 yards, tied with Kalif Raymond for third-most receptions on the roster. They trail Luther Burden III, who leads the team with 49 receptions and 644 yards, and tight end Colston Loveland's 37 catches. 

Odunze leads all receivers in the NFL in receiving explosive catch rate (46.9%) -- the percentage of receptions that gain 20+ yards on the play. He's at the top of the league in that metric; however, he's also near that bottom among wide receivers with his 66.7 catch % (47th among receivers with at least 20 targets), according to Pro Football Focus (PFF).

While Odunze has created some explosive plays for head coach Ben Johnson's offense, consistency has been an issue through the first nine games of the season. That also hurt the third-year receiver during his sophomore season, featuring drops and a five-game absence because of a foot injury. Although PFF has him with two drops entering the bye week, the 24-year-old receiver emphasized during an appearance on Kay Adams' "Up & Adams" show that reliability is what he wants to improve the most. 

"I feel like the biggest thing for me is just being consistent is the biggest thing," Odunze said. "I feel like I have great flashes. Man, I've shown great consistency throughout the season, but the biggest thing for me is just making all the plays that come my way consistently, you know? There's a lot of great players on this offense, and so many people that can do great things with the ball in their hands and make incredible plays, so the opportunities aren't going to come, maybe, you know, 15 to 20 targets a game, so for me, I just want to make the most of every play that comes my way and be consistent with that really."

Odunze plays an important role in this Bears offense, especially on routes designed to target the middle of the field between the hashes. According to PFF, Odunze has 27 targets between the numbers, catching 18 of those passes for 281 yards. 

If Odunze can become more consistent for Williams, this offense will continue to ascend for the final stretch of the Bears' regular season.