Caleb Williams and Rome Odunze had a hot start to the 2025 season, but that connection was inconsistent down the stretch. Here is one area where the two Chicago Bears' playmakers can improve this year.
Bears head coach Ben Johnson made it clear during the 2026 NFL annual league meeting what parts of his offense he wants to see improve this upcoming season.
It starts with finding more efficient ways to get the primary receiver open, which Johnson feels didn’t happen “at a high enough clip” last season. Quarterback Caleb Williams averaged 3.2 seconds to throw during the 2025 season – the second most among quarterbacks, only behind Shedeur Sanders (3.24).
Depending on each rep, there could be several reasons for Williams holding onto the football. The primary receiver wasn't getting open quickly enough. Williams may have missed a read, or the quarterback avoided pressure and extended the play.
Regardless of the reason, Johnson wants to see better execution during those off-schedule plays.
“And so that's what I'm looking forward to, is we're going to be able to have those conversations in the quarterback room of when can we hang in there and get this ball out to the primary or the No. 2 receiver, and when do we need to extend," Johnson told reporters at the NFL annual league meeting. "And, naturally, I think we got to get better when we extend plays, capitalizing on those as well. Our scramble tape was not very good, and I think that's something that Caleb can really sink into. Just with his accuracy, with our ability to catch the ball, with our ability to separate down the field, I think we can make a huge jump there as well."
Johnson will always look for ways to improve his offense. The two players who would benefit the most from improving on those scramble drills are Williams and wide receiver Rome Odunze. The two combined for 18 targets on scramble plays, the most last season. On those plays, the Bears finished with a 4.53 total EPA, a 33.3% success rate and a time-to-complete of 5.84 seconds.
Williams felt comfortable throwing in Odunze’s direction when plays went off schedule. The next step for the two former top 10 picks in the 2024 NFL Draft is to become more efficient on those plays. New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs had just 11 targets on scramble plays, but finished with a 10.60 total EPA and a 72.7% success rate.
To go beyond just scramble plays, the graph below shows how long it took to throw to Odunze on average. His 3.37 seconds was easily the largest time to throw to a receiver last season.
Williams targeted Odunze often to start the 2025 season. Through the first four weeks, Odunze's 35 targets overshadowed former Bears receiver Olamide Zaccheaus, who had 22 targets in that time, the second most on the team.
The chart above illustrates Odunze is an outlier from every receiver outside of the Colts' Alec Pierce. Reigning Offensive Player of the Year, wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, finished in the second quadrant just to compare.
The coaching staff, Williams and Odunze can all take some responsibility for the outcome, but Johnson has already made it clear his team will improve that part of the offense so the unit can become a more effective this upcoming season.