Early in his season debut in Week 2, Jaylon Johnson suffered a groin injury after missing considerable training camp time with a different one. Shortly after going down, it became clear the Bears’ top corner could miss the remainder of the season.
The door is open to a return late in the campaign, though. Johnson is expected to finalize plans for core muscle surgery this week, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports. Head coach Ben Johnson confirmed that is the case (h/t ESPN’s Courtney Cronin) while adding a return late in the campaign could be possible.
Losing Johnson has dealt a major blow to the Bears’ secondary, and he remains on track to miss at least the bulk of Chicago’s remaining schedule. The unit has also been without star nickel Kyler Gordon so far this season due to a hamstring injury. Their replacements – Nahshon Wright on the boundary and Nick McCloud in the slot – have given up four touchdowns and more than 300 yards when targeted in their first three games, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required).
Getting their starting cornerbacks back on the field as soon as possible would be a significant boost to a struggling defense. The Bears sit 28th in points allowed under Dennis Allen and 29th in total defense. Gordon should return to the field well before Johnson, though the Bears may take a cautious approach and hold him out until after their Week 5 bye. Johnson will take much longer, and if the Bears are out of playoff contention when he’s ramping up, the risk of re-injury might not be worth a few appearances at the end of the season.
Nikhil Mehta contributed to this post.