Bears Mailbag: Has Luther Burden III Taken the WR1 Role From Rome Odunze?
Who is the Chicago Bears' No. 1 wide receiver going into the 2026 NFL season? Let's discuss that topic in today's latest Bears mailbag.
Video Transcript
What's going on everybody?
Nicholas Moriano here from Bears Roundtable Sports.
For today's video, we look into a recent fan submitted question, who's wide receiver number one?
Rome or is it Luther Burden?
And I completely understand this because if you go on social media right now, or if you were even to, like, ask a random Bears fan that question, who is the Bears number one wide receiver, I bet you would get a variety of different answers.
It is between those two candidates, and we're sticking with just wide receivers.
Obviously, Colston Loveland's a very capable pass-catching option and actually led the Bears in receiving yards last season.
But the number one Bears wide receiver, like I said, I bet you get a bunch of different answers.
And if you go on social media or have been on it recently, I feel like most people would say right now Luther Burden is that guy.
And I think it's just because of h- what happened last season between the two receivers.
Let's start with Rome Odunze.
Through the first four weeks, he was on a tear.
The five touchdown receptions through the first four weeks, but then late in October, the stress fracture in his foot.
And then everything from that moment on, the production, the consistency, it went down for Rome.
And during that time too, it just felt like Luther Burden emerged as a legitimate pass-catching option, understanding the offense a little bit more, making big plays, being a reliable pass-catching target.
So I think right now what it is for Bears fans viewing both these wide receivers is just the timing of things.
Rome is coming off of a season where it was a down year.
He had an injury.
He had some drops.
Luther Burden, being a rookie, showed explosive play-making ability, reliability, and just this overall excitement from what he can bring at that position.
But I just wanna remind people that Rome Odunze's still a very talented football player.
He was drafted number nine overall for a reason.
He was starting off his second season in the league, like I said, on a tear with all those touchdown receptions.
He was one of the most targeted-- He was the most targeted pass catcher o- on this Bears offense through those first four weeks.
And then the injury derailed things.
So don't overlook Rome Odunze just simply because of how the back half of twenty-twenty-five ended.
Luther Burden's gonna make a bunch of plays in this Bears offense moving forward, and so is Rome Odunze.
And, and Colston Loveland, Cole Kmet, there's so many different pass-catching options.
But if anything, not having maybe a true number one wide receiver creates more difficulty for opposing defensive coordinators on who to game plan for.
There's different match-ups and different ways that Ben Johnson's gonna utilize both of these guys in his offense.
So I don't think Ben Johnson or Caleb Williams are gonna complain if that happens to be the case for defensive coordinators, and I don't think Bears fans should either.
Both these pass catchers, I think, put the Bears receiving group in really good hands, and I do anticipate Rome Odunze to have a bounce back season and also a healthy one to show what he's truly capable of.
But I also expect Luther Burden to continue emerging as that legitimate threat in this Bears passing game.
So who's the number one wide receiver?
I guess that's up to you to decide, but for me, I'm not gonna overlook Rome Odunze just yet, and I'm also not gonna limit what Luther Burden's gonna be doing, not only this season, but moving on in his career, same as Rome Odunze.
But I think it's a good problem to have for the Bears pass-catching options.
You just don't know who's gonna be number one, and that's gonna keep defensive coordinators guessing.
