Bear Digest

Jaylon Johnson ready to make a difference this week for Bears

After missing the opener with a lingering calf and groin injury situation, the Pro Bowl Bears cornerback is going through full practices and feeling ready to start.
Gene Chamberlain|
Jaylon Johnson shoves Anthony Richardson out of bounds in a Colts-Bears game last season.
Jaylon Johnson shoves Anthony Richardson out of bounds in a Colts-Bears game last season. | Grace Hollars/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears


A Bears defense reeling in the fourth quarter Monday after a few things started going the other way could have definitely used someone to step up and make a play.

They may have that man Sunday at Ford Field against the Detroit Lions because cornerback Jaylon Johnson appears ready to return. Johnson went through a full practice Thursday after being designated full go for Wednesday, if it had been a practice instead of a walk-through.

"A lot better," Johnson said about his groin/calf injuries. "I feel pretty good just getting that extra week of reps, extra week of conditioning, going through things really, just getting up to speed in the playbook, being able to do walk-throughs, things like that, is really beneficial for me.

"So all those (practice) reps are important."

Johnson's calf injury hadn't originally been on the report and then last week it was also an issue besides the groin injury that kept him out of the entire training camp.

"That was just a little over compensation from just trying to get my groin back right, just get my body collectively together, and I just had some calf tightness," Johnson said.

As a result, Johnson said would be ready to play Thursday if the game was held then. Last week, he had said the opposite answer when asked during the week if he could play that day.

It's full speed ahead for their top defensive player.

A frustrating week of watching for the two-time Pro Bowl defender now has increased his sense of urgency after a loss.

"Yeah, for sure, I'm sure everybody feels that same urgency," he said. "I mean, you never want to go 0-2, you want to try to win as many games as possible."

Getting Johnson back gives them another playmaker who can help prevent momentum from changing or to recapture it. Defensive coordinator Dennis Allen addressed the issue Thursday of how his group seemed to collapse after six three-and-outs and a takeaway earlier in the game.

"When momentum starts to swing in the opposite direction, rather than trying to do more, narrow your focus and just focus on the basic fundamentals of playing football," Allen said. "Get your eyes in the right spot. Do your job and do the things that you're supposed to do, and don't try to do too much.

"That's really what the focus is: for four quarters, focusing on doing my job all right and trusting that the other 11 guys on the field are going to do their job. Because on every single play, we all have a job to do, all right, and if we trust that our teammates are going to do their job and we do ours and we do it well then we're going to have success."

Green Bays defense totally shut down Detroit's explosive offense last week. The Bears should have a good idea how to do it since their own coach ran that offense last year.

Allen sees the need for the rush to increase its pressure over last week in order to help the secondary, when they face Jared Goff.

"I think when he's able to throw the ball on timing and rhythm, I think he's exceptional as a pocket passer," Allen said. "And so we've got to be able to disrupt timing, whether that be through the rush or that be through the coverage. That's what the whole thing's got to be predicated on is trying to make him uncomfortable in the pocket, and so we'll have the plan for that."

Green Bay's tackling in space was exceptional in shutting down running back Jahmyr Gibbs and receivers Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams. It' something Allen sees the need to repeat.

"(Gibbs) is explosive, so we gotta be able to try to eliminate the explosive plays with him, stop the interior running game," Allen said. "It's just that there's a lot of weapons that they have and so it's hard on every single play to think we're gonna be able to take everybody away.

"So, we just got to play good team defense. We’ve got to do a great job of tackling, and in particular, tackling in space."

It can't hurt having close to an entirely healthy defense to do it.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.