Struggling Bears can find optimism in thriving connection of rookies Williams and Odunze

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — The future is murky at best for the Chicago Bears because of their need to hire a coach in the offseason, but one thing the Bears can be optimistic about is their rookie passing combination of Caleb Williams and Rome Odunze.

The two have heated up over the second half of the season and look to be a force in 2025 regardless of what happens with the roster and coaching staff.

“It’s been great,” Williams said Monday. “To be able to have a young guy with me like Rome, spectacular person, spectacular player.

“Like I’ve said, I’ve seen it now for two years. Being able to have him here and grow with him and our relationship over the years is going to be vital, I think, for the team.”

The two were on opposing sides in college, Williams at Southern California and Odunze at Washington. Odunze has 51 catches for 701 yards and three touchdowns for the Bears this season. He has 455 receiving yards during their current nine-game losing streak, and made four catches for 77 yards in Sunday's 34-17 loss to the Detroit Lions.

“It’s always when you step on the field with a great player like him, you feel that confidence,” Odunze said of Williams. “You feed off of that for one another. I think that we do that well.

“I think we have to continue to do that at the end of the day kind of like Davante Adams and Aaron Rodgers have to go out and prove that every single Sunday, too, and they continue to do so — even though we’re at the inception of our duo.”

It’s still a learning experience for both rookies. Williams said he didn’t get Odunze the ball in a good spot, leading to a fumbled handoff on an end-around play on Sunday. And Odunze fumbled on a screen pass after advancing 20 yards.

“I have all belief in him,” Williams said. “Even after we had that one mistake between him and I and then him catching that pass and fumbling again, I walked over to him, dapped him up, told him I’d come right back to him. And we did just that.”

The future of the Bears' receiver group is uncertain because Keenan Allen's contract expires after this season, but Odunze appears capable of moving into a bigger role behind DJ Moore. And he has his QB’s confidence.

“I’ve seen him do it. I didn’t watch it on YouTube or anything like that,” Williams said. “I’ve just seen Rome do that in games versus us when I was in college. So, watching him live to watching him in his YouTube videos and things like that to seeing him here with us through camp and games and things like that, he has a reputation for a reason.

“And he’s pretty consistent.”

What’s working

The passing game. Williams has completed 136 of 211 passes with eight touchdowns and no interceptions for a passer rating of 100.9 over the last six games. He also has gone 326 attempts without an interception, the sixth-longest streak in an NFL season.

What needs help

Pass defense. The Bears have given up 865 yards passing and 102 points in three games since coach Matt Eberflus, who also called the defensive plays, was fired. The Bears were a top-10 pass defense as recently as Nov. 17 but now rank 23rd.

Stock up

Williams went 26 of 40 for 334 yards and two TDs against the Lions. His 3,271 yards passing is the sixth best for a single season in Bears history.

Stock down

RB D’Andre Swift. He ran for 20 yards on nine carries on Sunday. It didn’t help that the Bears abandoned the run after falling behind. Swift came into Sunday’s game with a good chance at a 1,000-yard season, but that milestone is now uncertain at best. He has 841 yards with two games left.

Injuries

LT Braxton Jones is out for the season after suffering an ankle injury on Sunday. He left the field on a cart, and coach Thomas Brown said the third-year player will likely have surgery. G Teven Jenkins aggravated a calf injury.

Key number

14 — The number of games in which the Bears have trailed this season.

Next steps

The Bears host Seattle Thursday night in their final home game.