We report observations of the optical counterpart of the long gamma-ray burst GRB 221009A. Due to the extreme rarity of being both nearby ( z = 0.151) and highly energetic ( E _γ _,iso ≥ 10 ^54 erg), GRB 221009A offers a unique opportunity to probe the connection between massive star core collapse and relativistic jet formation across a very broad range of γ -ray properties. Adopting a phenomenological power-law model for the afterglow and host galaxy estimates from high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope imaging, we use Bayesian model comparison techniques to determine the likelihood of an associated supernova (SN) contributing excess flux to the optical light curve. Though not conclusive, we find moderate evidence ( K _Bayes = 10 ^1.2 ) for the presence of an additional component arising from an associated SN, SN 2022xiw, and find that it must be substantially fainter (