SEATTLE — For three quarters a week ago Thursday, Rome Odunze appeared on his way to giving more evidence to those tempted to tag him with the dreaded label of “first-round bust.

For the first 45 minutes as the Chicago Bears tried to hold off the New England Patriots, the former University of Washington receiver — who led the nation with a school-record 1,640 yards in 2023 — had just one catch for 6 yards. He’d also committed a pass-interference penalty on a potential touchdown pass. Worse, he dropped the pass after committing the penalty.

But then Odunze, as he put it later, began “coming back to life."

With Chicago backed up at its 21-yard line early in the fourth quarter facing a third-and-11 and ahead by only six points, Odunze caught a pass for 21 yards that got the Bears out of trouble.

On the next drive, the Bears faced another third down deep in their territory — this time, needing 9 yards from their 10-yard line — still clinging to a six-point lead.

Bears quarterback Caleb Williams threw again to Odunze, who had to reach back in traffic and make the grab as he fell to the turf. The catch led to a clinching field goal as the Bears beat the Patriots 30-21, and it was one of three receptions for 63 yards Odunze made in the final quarter.

He then recovered an onside kick to preserve a 30-24 victory, earning a game ball from coach Ben Johnson.

“Let me tell you who finished it now," Johnson said, handing Odunze the ball.

"I missed a play earlier in the game, so my mindset is just shake back, and that's exactly what I did," Odunze said after the game. "For me, I'm always going to shake back, and that was my opportunity to do so."

The Patriots game allows Odunze to return to Seattle for the first time as an NFL player on a high. His three-year NFL career has featured a few more lows than anticipated when he was taken as the ninth overall pick of the 2024 draft. The Bears play the Seahawks at 5:20 p.m. Monday at Lumen Field.

Odunze has 122 receptions for 1,776 yards in 36 career regular-season games — close to what the Seahawks' Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who was the 20th pick of the 2023 draft, had last season (119 for 1,793 yards in 17 games).

Odunze also has scored only one touchdown in his past 17 games. After two games of 100 or more receiving yards in the first eight of his career, he has just two 100-yard games in his past 30 games, including playoffs.

Throw in a few ill-timed drops and a lost fumble late in a loss Oct. 11 against Green Bay, and a narrative of Odunze being a disappointment considering his draft status, if not a bust, has begun to emerge, fair or not.

Odunze, at least, is in a position to change the perception, as he did in the eyes of some last week.

The same can’t be said for two of his receiving teammates on the 2023 UW team that advanced to the national title game — Ja’Lynn Polk and Jalen McMillan.

The three formed what observers regularly called college football's best receiving trio in 2023. They teamed with quarterback Michael Penix Jr. to lead the Huskies to a school-record 14 wins powered by an offense averaging 36 points a game, 13th-best in the nation.

All four players were drafted in the first three rounds — Polk went 37th overall to the Patriots and McMillan 92nd to Tampa Bay. Penix was drafted eighth overall by the Falcons.

Polk is out of football at age 24, announcing in August he was retiring while on the New Orleans Saints' roster.

He was traded by the Patriots in 2025 with a 2028 seventh-round pick for a 2027 sixth-round pick after missing the 2025 season because of a shoulder injury. He had 12 receptions for 87 yards as a rookie in 2024. One of his two touchdowns came in an early-season loss to the Seahawks.

McMillan, meanwhile, is on injured reserve with no ETA for a return while dealing with a knee issue (reported as a left PCL sprain). He has played in two games this season without a catch.

““When they tell me he’s ready and he’s out there, that’s when I know he’s out there,” Bucs coach Todd Bowles told reporters this week about McMillan.

That continues a rough start to his career — he played just four games in 2025 after suffering a neck injury in the preseason.

McMillan has 49 catches in 19 career NFL games for 639 yards and eight touchdowns. That includes 37 receptions for 461 yards and all eight TDs as a rookie in 2024, when he showed promise before the injuries hit.

Odunze also has battled the injury bug, missing five games in 2025 due to a stress fracture in his left foot.

He’s been healthy this year, playing 85% of Chicago’s snaps.

But statistically, he’s ceded the No. 1 receiver role to teammate Luther Burden, a second-round pick in 2025. Burden leads the Bears with 35 receptions for 491 yards and two TDs to Odunze’s 24 for 381 and zero.

In fact, Odunze has the fourth-most receptions on the Bears, also behind tight end Colston Loveland and receiver Kalif Raymond, who in a numerical oddity both have 26 receptions for 244 yards. Odunze’s 54.4 receiving yards per game this season rank 34th in the NFL and his 3.4 catches is 76th.

Though Odunze may not have the overall numbers some expected, he’s shown a knack for making big plays at key times, as illustrated by the New England game.

Odunze has the sixth-most receiving yards in the NFL on third downs (165) and is tied with Burden for second in receptions of 20 yards or longer with 11, behind Smith-Njigba's 14.

In the wake of Odunze’s clutch fourth quarter against the Pats, former receiver Steve Smith Sr. — whose 14,731 yards are eighth-most in NFL history — came to his defense.

“The first thing, he’s not a bust," Smith said on his "The 89 Show" podcast this week. “Let’s get that nonsense out of the way and stop throwing that word around when someone does not live up to your expectations.

“To say that he’s a bust, I don’t think that’s fair, I don’t think that’s accurate, because he’s still on the team contributing, he’s had some big plays on third down. … He allows and makes this team go offensively, and without Rome, Raymond and Burden do not become the kind of players they are.

Odunze will get another chance to prove it Monday night just a few miles from the stadium where he earned his first-round draft status.

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