Chicago Bears 2020 Week 1 cornerback report

How did the Chicago Bears cornerbacks look in coverage on Sunday?

The Chicago Bears secondary allowed seven different Detroit Lions players to catch passes. Danny Amendola led the way with five receptions on seven targets for 81 yards. T.J. Hockenson had the most yards after the catch with 34, per Pro Football Focus.

However, on each play, a different player is responsible for different men. The Bears are not a team that follows receivers. How did each cornerback fare?

Kyle Fuller

Fuller was expecting to see Kenny Golladay often, but wound up with rookie Quintez Cephus on him. Cephus had a solid performance for a rookie, but none of that was under the watch of Fuller, and rather when they motioned Cephus inside.

Cephus was 0-4 against Kyle Fuller, and Fuller finished the day 1-6 when targeted, allowing a seven yard reception to running back DeAndre Swift. Fuller still held Swift to just two yards after the catch. It was not the heavy weight battle he wanted, but when you add in his heads up play on the interception, Fuller was excellent Week One.

Jaylon Johnson

We had already noted that Johnson was a bright star in this game. He saw Marvin Jones more often than Cephus, and while he did allow a TD to Jones, and was ran over by Jones, those seem to be minor details that the rookie grew from. Johnson did have a hand in turning the ball over to take a lead, and made the play to ice the game in the end zone as well, so overall the downs were worth the ups.

Johnson was targeted six times. He was 2-6, and allowed 40 yards. He allowed a downfield pass to T.J. Hockenson, which is a tough ask for a corner, and he allowed the 16 yard touchdown to Jones. Still, Jones was 1-3 when Johnson was under his watch, and the multiple pass breakups are huge plays.

Buster Skrine

The Lions were able to motion Cephus into the slot, and he pulled in two grabs on three targets for 23 yards on Skrine. Danny Amendola also got 20 of his yards in the slot on Skrine as well. Skrine allowed 23 yards after the catch, most going to Amendola, and two incompletions were due to drops, not his coverage. He broke up one pass, but allowed four of his five receptions to go for first downs.

Skrine finished the day 5-8 that total 51 yards allowed.

Others

Overall, the others did well. Roquan Smith and Danny Trevathan are not in man coverage as often, but it was clear the Lions wanted to target Trevathan. He allowed six catches for 95 yards, and the only incompletion to his zone was a drop. Trevathan allowed 55 yards after the catch as well.

Roquan Smith was more efficient forcing three incompletions and allowing five receptions for 42 yards, and 30 coming after the catch.

Similarly, Eddie Jackson performed well on limited targets, but Tashaun Gipson allowed three receptions on three targets. They only went for 19 yards, but it did include the touchdown allowed to Hockenson as well.