Bears Hoping to Avoid Checkmate

It's always a balancing act against Aaron Rodgers, and the pressure is on the cornerbacks.

Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson blames himself somewhat for plays leading to the 24-14 Green Bay win earlier this season at Soldier Field, but what's a cornerback to do? The decision is always whether to be overly aggressive in coverage by gambling for an interception because Rodgers can pick teams apart.

"You'd be a fool if you did that," Rodgers said. "He knows what he's doing. So I mean you can't take too many chances or do too much.

"I mean you just really want to honestly stay true to yourself, to the defense and just play with good technique. I mean, he's going to take advantage of guys who are trying to do too much and get out of character. I mean you've just got to take the ones that he brings to you and I mean honestly he doesn't do that too often, so I mean you've just got to live with that fact."

Rodgers rarely throws the ball into trouble. The Bears have had one interception of Rodgers since 2015. That came from Eddie Jackson in the end zone and clinched their 2018 NFC North title.

The last one before that was by former Bears defensive back Tracy Porter in the Bears' 17-13 win on the night set aside to honor Brett Favre at Lambeau Field in 2015.

"We aren't here to reinvent the wheel and reinvent a whole new defense," Bears defensive coordinator Sean Desai said. "We have a lot of time invested into our defense. We thought we played them pretty good the last time we played them. It wasn't good enough and we know where we fell short, but we are going to build off of that and try to create some different matchups, different issues that we feel can be more favorable to our advantage."

Johnson felt he was part of the problem. The Bears had him covering Davante Adams all over the field. Adams sometimes goes in the slot and Johnson isn't as familiar with playing slot cornerback.

"I just feel we gave them certain plays that allowed them to score, especially on my end, having mental errors trying to play the slot position, just having mental errors in that I feel like gave them opportunities to score," Johnson said.

A key 41-yard catch and run Adams had in that game came when he beat Johnson and it set up the touchdown run for Rodgers when he hollered "I still own you," to the Bears and Bears fans.

Desai likened a battle against Rodgers to playing chess.

"He's a threat obviously with his arm, with his feet—he's still a threat with his feet," Desai said. "And obviously with his mind. You've gotta play the mental game with him. All 11 of us do."

It's almost like playing chess against a computer, so it's not an easy win.

"I don't know if it's a win, it's like playing it," Desai said. "You keep playing the chess game with him. From all 11, 12 including myself.

"The guys on the field and then myself. You've gotta keep doing it and you've gotta strain mentally through that over the course of a game."

The Bears do have one thing working on their side which doesn't usually affect "chess masters." Rodgers hasn't practiced this week going into Friday due to toe surgery during the Green Bay bye week, although he is expected to play.

"We thought we played them pretty good the last time we played them," Desai said. "It wasn't good enough and we know where we fell short but we are going to build off of that and try to create some different matchups, different issues that we feel can be more favorable to our advantage."

If that's possible.

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