1:50pm: Johnson will indeed need surgery, NFL insider Jordan Schultz reports. He adds a return could take place late in the campaign but there is a strong chance Johnson will be out for the remainder of the season. Fellow corner Terell Smith has already been lost to a torn patellar tendon suffered during the preseason. Chicago’s setup in the secondary will be worth monitoring given this latest blow dealt to the unit.
12:57am: Jaylon Johnson made his season debut yesterday but was unable to finish the game. The Bears’ top cornerback is now in position to miss an extended period. 
Johnson missed training camp as well as Chicago’s season opener while recovering from a groin injury. During the second quarter of the team’s blowout loss against the Lions, he exited and did not return. In the latest update on the situation, ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Courtney Cronin report Johnson is out indefinitely. This is a new groin injury, per head coach Ben Johnson (via Scott Bair of the Marquee Sports Network).
The full extent of the injury is unknown at this point. Surgery could be on the table, depending on what further testing reveals. In any event, losing Johnson for an extended stretch will deal a notable blow to the Bears’ defense. The unit struggled mightily with and without him on Sunday, and being shorthanded in the secondary will be an unwelcomed development as the team looks to recover from its 0-2 start.
Johnson is in his sixth NFL season, each of which have come as a member of the Bears. The 26-year-old received the franchise tag last offseason to prevent a potential free agent departure. Johnson later signed a four-year, $76MM deal ensuring his status as a foundational member of the team’s secondary. He earned a second straight Pro Bowl nod last season but missed considerable time during the summer in advance of the current campaign.
Johnson was activated from the PUP list during roster cutdowns, allowing for him to return within the first four weeks of the season. The former second-rounder managed to do so, but after a brief spell on the field he will be sidelined for a notable stretch. Slot corner Kyler Gordon – who landed a lucrative new deal this spring – has yet to play this year, so Johnson’s absence could be particularly troublesome if Gordon remains unavailable for Week 3.
Chicago allowed a fourth-quarter comeback against the Vikings in Week 1 before surrendering 52 points against the Lions yesterday. Improvements on defense will be sought out over the coming weeks, and the team’s secondary will be a unit worth watching closely. Johnson will not be part of the Bears’ efforts to take a needed step forward for at least the time being, though.
This team was dead in the water before the season started and is worse now. Cobbling together a group of individuals from other places and hiring the flavor of the month rarely works. Yet Bears fans convinced themselves this was a division contender. 😂😂😂
Delusional vs Realist fans. A lot of the realistic fans have stopped believing the hype especially after how last season turned out. Last season put a lot of foul tastes in people’s mouths.
The Bears are a division contender if that division is in the NCAA 🙂
twentyforty I’m no Bears fan, but I think you’re being unfair here. First of all, I don’t think most sane people thought this was very likely a contender to win the division, especially after the Parsons trade. It’s also not fair to call Johnson flavor of the month. He was one of the best offensive play callers—especially if you don’t include head coaches—in the league for multiple seasons and did it without an elite quarterback. That’s a great head coach candidate. I think people were unrealistically optimistic about some things (like how much you can fix an offensive line overnight), but I’d say most of their moves were sound. That doesn’t mean you’re going to turn around a team in a couple of months. I always thought success for this team would mean it looked very pointed in the right direction by later in the season.
Yes. So easy for the ankle biters to take shots right now. But this was always going to be a process. The Lions were crap with Johnson until they weren’t. For Pete’s sake, give the guy more than a couple of games before you pile on.
Process? You’re delusional if you think Williams is the guy. And the OL is not good enough no matter how much was spent. We can address the defense another da y because that is a different shade of bad. Process? Johnson won’t finish out his contract.
What’s amazing to me is how quickly they’ve tuned on Ryan poles. Two years ago he was the gm of the decade 😆🤪
Hind sight is 20/20. I kind of expected the offense to struggle a bit because they had no game reps to speak of and that’s the big thing an offense needs. The defense is a mystery. After playing well for 3 quarters last week they were obviously gassed in the 4th quarter so are they in shape? They were basically non existent against the Lions. Trapillo and Amegedjie weren’t even active and it seems this would have been a good place to get them some reps in a real game. Not really sure what the plan is right now but I have faith that Johnson will get it together at some point but we have to realize it’s gonna take some time. Where’s Turner? Why are slugs like Homer on return IR? Do they really think he’s going to help? Why isn’t Wheeler still here he was their best back all pre season and he’s not even on the practice squad? Lot’s of strange personnel decisions going on. And what’s with the pre snap penalties? They can’t even figure that out. Maybe that OLine coach they keep raving about and all that either.
I know you were a supporter of Dennis Allen before the season but how does one explain so many blown coverages on defense yesterday? At least we know Rome Odunze is the real deal.
One game isn’t going to change my opinion of any of the coaches. But the Lions were obviously on a mission and the Bears weren’t ready for it so that’s on the coaches. Now Johnson is out for the rest of the season so hopefully they don’t play Gordon before he’s ready and get the same result, That would be a panic move. How can the team still have all these stupid penalties after all this time? They have no RB that scares anybody so where’s Wheeler? He’s at least a HR threat. They have Swift who’s not very good and 2 plodders. Got to be something on somebodies Practice squad at this point. As far as I know Wheeler isn’t anywhere so get him back in here.
Khalil Herbert is also available so they should give him another look.
It’s funny how fast people forget about Peyton Manning and Troy Aikman‘s first couple of years . The Bears finally have somebody that knows what he’s doing. They will start drafting the right people and we shall see how that turns out . To the rest of you morons that come in here and rip the Bears shows how low your IQ is when it comes to football
It’s true that Aikman and Manning struggled early and are now HOF players. But that was ages ago in the NFL timeline. It’s different times now. It’s big business. It’s a what have you done for me lately league. It’s all about success and wins. Very little patience is practiced by some owners and little to none by fans.
I love the delusional Bears fan who preaches patience. Good luck with that in a division that is young and far, far more talented than the roster currently pieced together in Chicago. You don’t have to like reality, but dealing with it is a better idea.
Johnson is one of the Bears best defenders and will be missed. Hopefully a full recovery. It’s still early or is it? I’m going to call this weeks game at home against Dallas a must win. My original prediction of 7-10 for the Bears may have been too optimistic. That schedule is rough.
He’s done. Caleb does doesn’t look good. The Bears are done. Going into hibernation early this year. Even for them. Top 5 pick confirmed.
WHAT HAS RYAN POLES DONE FOR ME LATELY