Standing in a raucous Bears locker room Monday night, receiver Kalif Raymond was asked what he saw on the screen pass that he took 39 yards in the fourth quarter to seal the 34-17 win against the Seahawks.
“Rome Odunze,” he said.
Odunze was stacked in front of Raymond on third-and-nine from the Seahawks’ 44 with the Bears holding a suddenly precarious three-point lead.
Right tackle Darnell Wright let edge rusher DeMarcus Lawrence sprint in toward quarterback Caleb Williams, who had to sidearm the ball around him, so he could race out to block safety Nick Emmanwori. Right guard Jonah Jackson blocked just enough of linebacker Ernest Jones to slow him down.
Odunze sealed off cornerback Josh Jobe, pushing him toward the sideline. Raymond ran through the tunnel for the huge gain.
“If [Odunze] doesn’t get that block, the screen doesn’t go,” Raymond said.
He wasn’t surprised.
“He does it every single time. …” Raymond said. “That dude is a maniac.”
The Bears didn’t draft Odunze ninth overall for his blocking prowess. When they weigh whether to extend his contract — as soon as this upcoming offseason — they’ll look more at receiving yards than the dirty work he does.
The combination of the two, though, is compelling. Entering Sunday night's game against the Buccaneers, Odunze is on pace for the best season of his three-year career.
“I’m on a mission to become a complete wide receiver …” Odunze said. “Whether that’s blocking, catching passes, YAC [yards after catch], incredible spectacular catches, whatever that is, I’m trying to do a lot of those different things. Blocking is a part of that, especially in this offense, and I’m trying to be excellent at it.”
His production is ticking up, too, and it’s about time.
In his first three games, Odunze caught eight passes on 13 targets for 139 yards. In the five since, he’s caught 20 passes on 31 targets for 329.
“The ball’s finding me,” he said.
That hasn’t always been the case.
Odunze was hampered by a popgun passing attack in his rookie year, posting just 734 receiving yards. Hampered by a chronic foot injury last year, he had just 661.
This season, he’s on pace for 994 receiving yards. In a league where 19 players had 1,000 or more last season, that’s more in line with the Bears’ expectations.
Odunze does what the Bears’ other pass-catchers can’t — he’s their deep threat. He’s 10th in the NFL in targeted air yards, which measures how far the ball flies in the air on passes in his direction. Luther Burden, the next-highest-ranked Bear, is 76th.
Coach Ben Johnson’s offense doesn’t try to feed one receiver, or focus on one at a given time. Amazingly, Odunze has 14 catches for 234 yards in the first half this season — and 14 catches for 234 yards in the second. In addition to Odunze, receiver Luther Burden, tight end Colston Loveland, running back D’Andre Swift and Raymond have all led the team in receiving in a game this season.
“Sometimes that’s how it is when you have so many good play-makers out on the field,” Odunze said. “Sometimes there can be different lulls in getting the ball or not.”
Williams has thrived in his second season throwing to Burden and Loveland and his third throwing to Odunze.
“That’s big,” Williams said. “The communication, our relationship as a group has grown. We hang out together. We do things together. We eat together, break bread together. … You start building that relationship and that bond between each other.
“They’re super-talented, so my job is just to put the ball in the area and try to give them the best ball I can each and every time.”
Receivers, of course, would rather be known for what they do with the ball in their hands. Odunze won’t apologize for wanting it.
“We got a bunch of ballplayers,” he said. “We all want the ball. You can ask every receiver around the league, ‘Who wants more targets?’ And they’ll say, ‘Me.’”
Johnson has a saying, though — “No block, no rock.”
“It's all in between the ears as much as anything else,” Johnson said. “And that's what we try to evaluate when guys are coming out of college, because they're not asked to do it a whole lot. You can get the technique and the fundamentals better through coaching, and yet you need to see that willingness to put their face in there and get dirty…
“If you're not doing that part of it, then it's hard to have you out there. It's a big part of our offense.”
Rewarding Odunze with the ball makes sense.
“That's the perfect scenario for us,” Johnson said.
