Bears notebook: Rome Odunze, Colston Loveland emerge with big games in 23-12 win over Jets
Hey everyone, Rome Odunze and Colston Loveland are here. Remember them?
The Bears’ top two targets broke out of their quiet starts to the season with big contributions in the 23-12 win over the Jets on Sunday. Loveland got a team-high nine targets from quarterback Tyson Bagent and finished with six catches for 57 yards, and Odunze caught six passes for a season-high 94 yards.
There’s much more to a tight end’s job than catching passes, but Loveland hadn’t been much of a factor as a receiving threat with just five catches for 34 yards over the first three games.
Odunze, meanwhile, was fresh off an embarrassing dropped touchdown pass Monday against the Eagles. He stepped up with the Bears’ longest play, and possibly most important, with a 37-yard catch down the middle of the field on a third-and-five in the second quarter.
“Love to go out there and make those types of plays… and bring a lot of excitement and emotion to the offense,” Odunze said. “Just glad to make the most of my opportunities.”
Odunze is now the team’s leading receiver with 233 yards on 14 catches.
Scary territory
The Bears’ failure to score from first-and-goal at the Jets’ 3-yard line in the first quarter continued a concerning pattern.
In their games against the Vikings and Eagles, the Bears reached first-and-goal five times and managed only one touchdown and one field goal. From the 3 against the Jets, Bagent threw incomplete, D’Andre Swift ran for two yards, Bagent threw incomplete gain and Swift was stopped for no gain on fourth down.
The Bears cashed in on their next shot, but barely. Their first-and-goal at the Jets’ 8 ended on Kyle Monangai’s goal-line touchdown on fourth down.
Davenport in mix
The Bears gave veteran defensive end Marcus Davenport some snaps off the bench, and he had one tackle in his debut.
They signed him in August because of his familiarity with defensive coordinator Dennis Allen from their time together with the Saints, but he began the season on the practice squad as he worked into playing shape. Coach Ben Johnson said they promoted him for the game because he had been “flashing all over” in practice the last few weeks.
Notes:
– Wide receiver Luther Burden had another strong game with four catches for 63 yards and at 219 yards for the season is just behind Kalif Raymond (220) and Odunze.
– Jets star wide receiver Garrett Wilson managed just three catches for 27 yards.
– Rookie safety Dillon Thieneman led the Bears with seven tackles and leads them for the season with 30.