Rome Odunze finally found the end zone.
It took nine weeks, and it happened on the wildest night of the Bears' season. Rome Odunze scored his first touchdown of the year on Sunday night, during a 27-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Soldier Field, ending the strangest drought on a 7-2 team. A starting receiver on one of the league's best offenses spent two months doing everything except the one thing that receivers are famous for.
The numbers never made much sense, either. Through eight weeks, Odunze had amassed 28 catches for 468 yards, and the team's best 16.7 yards per catch. But even with all of that effort, it never culminated in a touchdown.
Odunze was no afterthought, either. He was a receiver Caleb Williams trusted on the money downs, and one that head coach Ben Johnson consistently schemed open. The chances kept coming, week after week, and it never fully connected.
It was like a receiver living in the end zone's neighborhood, without ever moving in.
The right night to end
Odunze's drought didn't end in a blowout, either. Sunday night turned into a survival test with Williams throwing four separate interceptions, and the Buccaneers hung around until the final moments. In a three point game where Chicago gave the ball away all night, every score counted, especially the touchdown that refused to show up for two months.
What it means now is simpler than the drought was. Odunze heads into the bye as a more complete player than he was last week. Defenses spent two months treating him as one of the receivers who could move the chains without ever finishing the drive, and that option is gone now.
Luther Burden III leas the room, Odunze stretches down the field, and when both of them are live touchdown threats, the second half of the season against Chicago suddenly becomes much more difficult to defend.
Nine week of almost is a long time for a player this good. It ended in the game Chicago needed it most, and now the Bears head into the bye at 7-2, with one fewer question hanging over the rest of the season.
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