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Bears WR Rome Odunze reveals bold goal he's chasing for rest of 2025 NFL season
Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images

Second-year wide receiver Rome Odunze is having a breakout season after a rookie year that fell short of expectations for the ninth overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.

Odunze's first year fell flat, with just 54 catches for 734 yards and three touchdowns. There were flashes of high-end upside, but when compared to his 2024 draft classmates like Brian Thomas Jr., Malik Nabers, and Ladd McConkey, it was impossible to call Odunze anything but a disappointment.

That isn't the case this year. In fact, Odunze has been the most impressive wideout from the 2024 draft class and is currently on pace to finish Year 2 with 85 catches for 1,258 yards and 21 TDs.

Through four games, Rome Odunze has 20 catches, 296 yards, and five scores.

And while an end-of-year stat line like that would make even the most All-Pro of All-Pro receivers happy, Odunze has his sights set on more.

Like, NFL record more.

Yep, Rome Odunze wants to break Randy Moss's single-season receiving touchdown record.

Moss set the record -- 23 touchdown receptions -- in 2007 with the New England Patriots.

Bears' Rome Odunze chasing history in 2025

Odunze would need to stay as hot as he's been -- and then some -- to reach 24 touchdowns this year. He needs 19 more, and with 13 games left to play, he has to average just under 1.5 TD catches per game.

While I'm as big of a fan of Rome Odunze as anyone, it's difficult imagining the Chicago Bears' offense being that hot for the rest of the year.

That said, Ben Johnson's squad hasn't exactly been playing at its maximum upside, either. Despite winning in come-from-behind fashion against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 4, Johnson was displeased with how the offense played.

"I don’t feel like everybody on offense yet is pulling their weight, and that’s myself included," Johnson said this week. "There’s a number of things from (Sunday's) game that I have to do a better job of. There’s a couple calls I was getting in late. There’s a couple things that the coaching staff, myself, we could have coached up better to give us a better chance there."

If that's the case, if there are still a number of things that the Bears can do a better job of, and Rome Odunze has somehow managed to score five touchdowns while Chicago's offense is, in Johnson's words, a mess?

Hey, you never know. Maybe Odunze will etch his name in history this season. I wouldn't bet against him.

This article first appeared on Chicago Bears on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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