Chicago Bears Winner No. 3: Jaylon Johnson
Working primarily against Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase, Jaylon Johnson gave a great performance in his second game as the CB1 on this defense. He showed he can be relied on to take away a good portion of the field and was causing fits for both Bengal receivers and Joe Burrow all day long.
He finished the game with two tackles, four passes defended, and one interception. You cannot ask for much more production from a young corner. He showed strong skills in man coverage and was not afraid to go against such a talented wideout core. He also continued to show strong awareness in defending the run and has demonstrated quality tackling this season, for the most part.
While Duke Shelley struggled in the slot today, both Johnson and Kindle Vildor looked strong on the boundaries, with Johnson coming out as a clear winner from today’s game. It is a young secondary for the Bears, specifically at the cornerback position.
While Eddie Jackson and Tashaun Gipson are the veterans in the secondary, Johnson is going to have to be the leader amongst the corners as he develops into what hopefully becomes the future shutdown corner he has shown flashes of being.
If Johnson can stay healthy, I expect him to improve greatly as he continues to go against their opponent’s best target on a weekly basis. Last week was not his best game, and the entire secondary looked awful against the Rams. This week the communication and play call was better, and it resulted in a strong game for the Bears secondary, but especially Jaylon Johnson.
The young corner will be tested as he faces some of the league’s best each week. Look out for him to start turning all of these passes defended into more interceptions as the game continues to slow down. He has shown a plethora of potential and games like this make Bears fans less uneasy about the future of the secondary.