The Bears do not have a Rome Odunze problem. Not even close.
They might not love his dad’s tweets, but at every turn in his young career, Odunze has been near perfect when it comes to being a team player, coachable and a positive factor as the organization tries to establish a strong culture.
There wouldn’t have been even the slightest whisper of anything contrary had his father, James Odunze, not spent quite a bit of time raising concerns on X.
After Rome had no catches on three targets in the Bears’ 47-42 win over the Bengals on Sunday, James twice reposted a comment suggesting they should trade his son “to a team that will actually throw to him, as well as one saying coach Ben Johnson should “get his boy more layups” in the passing game.
When a user addressed James by saying team success is more important than an individual player, James replied, “Rome is my TEAM.”
“I’m happy,” Odunze said Thursday after practice. “I’m just trying to do my job within this organization as a leader, as a person, as an individual and as a football player. I’m trying to excel at a Hall of Fame level. That’s all I’m focused on.”
Regarding his dad’s tweets, he said, “He has his opinions and I have mine, and he feels like he needs to voice those things on social media, but that’s his prerogative. He speaks for himself and I speak for myself.”
Odunze said he spoke with his dad — “I love my pops,” he said — this week and they had a conversation about the posts, but he preferred to keep that private.
When asked if he’d mention it to his dad that the messages prompted a crowd of 20 media members at his locker asking questions about it, he laughed and said, “I’m sure he’s going to know from the videos that are posted after this. He knows.”
In his second season, Odunze has become the Bears’ No. 1 wide receiver. He leads the team with 59 targets (25th in the NFL), 31 catches (50th), 473 yards (31st) and five touchdown receptions (10th).
The Bears undoubtedly took note of James’ activity and released what appeared to be counterprogramming in a two-minute, 16-second highlight reel of Rome blocking and exhorting teammates during the Bengals game with the caption, “Selfless.”
Odunze wore a microphone during the game, and in the video he’s shown blocking so vigorously against Bengals cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt that his helmet came off, as well as an interaction on the sideline in which someone on the Bears tells him, “You’re blocking your ass off out there.”
James reposted that, too.
