Defending Justin Jefferson Shorthanded
It's not like the Bears haven't been here before.
"Twice, actually," cornerback Kindle Vildor recalled.
The Bears have had to go into big games against the Minnesota Vikings, trying to defend against wide receiver Justin Jefferson short-handed in the secondary with cornerback Jaylon Johnson out, and came out of it with mixed but not entirely terrible results.
Once they won and their defense played outstanding in a loss in the other game.
It appears likely they'll be trying for the third time Sunday because Johnson has a quad injury and hasn't practiced this week, after missing the last two games.
"So I've been through it before and kind of know what it takes to go out there and compete and go through our assignments and everything," Vildor said. "We'll work with the younger guys on it."
Kyler Gordon, Jaquan Brisker and Jaylon Jones are rookies, although it's not going to be Jones' first time being in a game with Jefferson on the opposing team. He played as a reserve for Mississippi against LSU when Jefferson was with the Tigers. Jefferson put up nine catches for 112 yards.
Last year they had COVID-19 hit the team hard at a time when they had injuries. They had to start a secondary with Teez Tabor, Thomas Graham Jr., Vildor, Deon Bush and Tashaun Gipson, with Dee Virgin and BoPete Keyes seeing playing time.
Against that group loaded with practice squad players at Soldier Field, Jefferson managed only four catches for 47 yards. The Bears held Kirk Cousins to 87 passing yards.
"That was a group effort, really both times but last year it was everyone flying around with a lot of energy to the ball, everyone knowing their assignment and playing fast," Vildor said.
Vildor can understand what the rookies will face because he was a rookie in 2020 when they called on him to come in at cornerback.
Duke Shelley was playing slot cornerback with Buster Skrine out injured and Johnson had a shoulder injury.
"We needed to keep stacking wins then to get to the playoffs," Vildor recalled. "We had really excellent tackling in that one."
The Bears won 33-27 in the 2020 game when Jefferson had eight catches for 104 yards but no touchdowns.
Those games were in the old 3-4 system. Now it's up to defensive coordinator Alan Williams to come up with a way for young defensive backs to stop Jefferson.
"They've got Adam Thielen now too and he was hurt last time," Vildor said. "It's going to be a challenge."
Williams called it a challenge made all the tougher by the fact they also have to defend an elite running back in Dalvin Cook.
"And not to diminish the other guys on the team, but those two dynamic players, I think the running back is dynamic and Jefferson is dynamic, so you have both," Williams said. "And so that's really what creates the problem.
"They can beat yah in two ways. They can beat yah on the ground, they can beat yah up in the air. So you have to pick and choose how you call it, what you do and where you put guys and what you focus on."
Doing it with so much inexperience on the field can make it all the more difficult even if they've done it before.
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