Was he? Amazing isn't it, that he managed to mutter the exact right word, at the exact right time. That is why I mentioned "rope a dope," if you are a boxing fan, and even if you aren't most people have heard of the strategy of the late great Mohamed Ali in the latter years of his boxing career. He'd lean back on the ropes for several rounds, yes, take a lot of punishment, it would even look like he was losing, but then when the time was right, he'd deliver the knock out punch. I'm thinking that Odin played rope a dope with Ethniu, and when she thought she had the upper hand, he delivered the knock out punch.
It's possible, but, I don't think he wanted that. Having a failsafe in case plan A fails is a bit different than 'lose my spear' being his plan.
That said, it IS intriguing that Chicago has 2 Swords and a Denarian on standby when a Titan comes knocking, and the third Sword coming in on time - almost as if the Angels (Fallen or not) did have sufficient foresight to predict a threat of this magnitude, and prepared for it. Almost makes you wonder if Lucy cheated in SF just to allow Uriel to upgrade his pawn to a Knight for this fight, though that may be attributing too much collusion.
Granted, Odin did have quite a bunch of Einherjar and 2 Valkyries ready to roll in Chicago too, so he can't have been completely unprepared.