Chicago Bears: In Spite of Another Loss, Jaylon Johnson Impresses

The Chicago Bears might have lost another frustrating game at the hands of the Green Bay Packers but Jaylon Johnson drew rave reviews covering star receiver Davante Adams.

This has been a very rough season for the Chicago Bears. With a record of 4-9, they’ll have their first losing record with Matt Nagy as head coach. Over the last two seasons, the team rallied to finish at .500 after many struggles but they weren’t able to do the same in 2021.

There were quite a few dysfunctional and embarrassing moments this season for Chicago. As a result, they became a laughingstock in the NFL.

Despite all of the struggles this season, there have been some positives. One of them is the play of Jaylon Johnson. In the team’s latest game, he certainly made an impression. While the Bears suffered their sixth straight loss (and 17th of their last 20) to the Green Bay Packers, the battle between Johnson and All-World receiver Davante Adams practically stole the show.

Alas, the battle lasted for only one half. Packers head coach Matt LaFleur made the necessary adjustments while Bears head coach Matt Nagy didn’t. The result was Adams breaking out in the second half and the Packers winning running away.

Heading into the 2021 season, Johnson took on the challenge of being the Bears’ CB1. The team could not come up with an agreement with Kyle Fuller on a contract restructuring so general manager Ryan Pace decided to cut him. That put the spotlight on Johnson.

Johnson responded by improving his statistics this season. Opposing quarterbacks have fewer yards completed against him and a lower yards per target average. Additionally, their quarterback rating is lower. He also recorded his first interception as well.

While all that was fine and good, not many people noticed how well Johnson played this season. With the Bears’ secondary struggling, quarterbacks started to look away from him so it became difficult to make big plays.

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Then Week 14 happened and Johnson took on their best receiver. Johnson locked down Adams and opened many eyes. With Johnson on him, Adams only caught two passes on five targets for only 19 yards and a touchdown. The touchdown catch was johnson’s only error as Adams beat him quickly on a three-yard touchdown catch.

The difference between Johnson and any other Bears defensive back covering Adams was incredible. Adams caught all eight targets for 102 yards and a touchdown. He caught a touchdown pass for 38 yards that was a thing of beauty. He ran such a precise route that safety Eddie Jackson and Xavier Crawford ran into each other while trying to cover him.

As I mentioned, the great battle lasted only one half. LaFleur moved Adams around and had him in the slot to force switching Johnson off of him.

One thing that was very good to hear was Johnson’s honest assessment of his ability. He admitted that the adjustments made are things that he needs to improve on. He wasn’t able to move around and pick up Adams quickly enough.

I gotta learn more. It’s bigger than just man-to-man coverage. You gotta be able to have run fits. You gotta be able to play zone and have different zone drops and things like that… That’s definitely something I need to improve on as a defender if I want to be that top guy and be able to follow guys and play the inside at a high level, that’s what I gotta learn and get more reps at it. That’s what I plan on doing moving forward.

That’s what you want to hear from your young cornerback. He did an incredible job against one of the top receivers in the NFL today. Instead of resting on his laurels, he concentrates on his failures and how to improve. If this young man continues to do that he’ll quickly become one of the top cornerbacks in the league and challenge all the top receivers.