Bears WR Rome Odunze — Caleb Williams' 'blankie' — returns to practice
Caleb Williams’ security blanket came back Thursday.
Receiver Rome Odunze, who has a stress fracture in his foot, practiced for the first time in more than two weeks, albeit in a limited fashion. Whether he plays Sunday against the Browns will be determined Friday.
“Rome is such a vital part of what we do,” coach Ben Johnson said minutes after Sunday’s loss to the Packers. “And in a lot of ways, for Caleb, it is his blankie.”
Even with one game missed, Odunze leads the Bears in catches, receiving yards and touchdowns. His 90 targets are 24 more than DJ Moore, the Bears’ No. 2 option.
“They have such a great, natural rapport that when a guy is out, then other guys gotta step up,” Johnson said. “But yet [Odunze] is a big part of what we are doing.”
Johnson, though, was surprised that Moore didn’t post better numbers against the Packers. He caught just one ball on three targets for -4 yards. The Bears had more plays in the playbook for Moore than any other player on the deep roster of pass-catchers.
Consider it another frustrating chapter for Moore, who has caught three passes or less in seven of the Bears’ 13 games. In his last five games, Moore has posted receiving yards totals of 0, 18, 25, 11 and -4. Rookie Luther Burden, by contrast, has 224 yards during the same five games.
Moore is the Bears’ most versatile piece. He has been split wide about 70% of the time, in the slot 25% of the time and in the backfield about 4% of the time.
Johnson and his coaching staff are using Moore differently than the previous regime, though. Last year, about 68% of Moore’s targets came within nine yards of the line of scrimmage or behind it. This year, it has been 48%.
“There’s a lot of weapons in our offense — we try to move them all around,” offensive coordinator Declan Doyle said Thursday. “There’s a lot of guys that we’re trying to target, and so [Moore] gets moved around a little bit. He’s a smart player so we feel really comfortable moving him to different spots. That can be a negative or a strength, depending on where we’re trying to go with the ball.
“But I just would say this about DJ — he’s done a great job of doing exactly what we’ve asked of him, and he continues to do so.”
Fifty-five NFL receivers have more receiving yards than Moore’s 498 this season, while 69 have more than his 39 catches. That’s not what the Bears had in mind when they gave him a four-year, $110 million extension.
“Every time we’ve asked him to go do something, he’s doing it . . . ” Doyle said. “Obviously, you’re looking at it and you would say, like, ‘Oh, there’s a little less production than, you know, maybe we would have anticipated.’ But . . . I think he’s doing a great job of just staying the course. . . . You just stay on it, and eventually you just keep pounding and pounding away, and it shows up.”
The Bears have other options — Olamide Zaccheaus, who was limited in practice because of a hamstring issue Thursday, caught a touchdown Sunday. So did rookie Colston Loveland. Fellow tight end Cole Kmet did the week before.
“We’ve got so much talent and so many playmakers, so whatever the play is called, wherever the ball’s going, you know it’s going to be in good hands,” Loveland said. “You know any moment, someone can make a play.”
That includes Odunze, perhaps as soon as Sunday.
That includes Odunze, perhaps as soon as Sunday.