Jaylon Johnson was supposed to be one of the Bears’ anchors. Instead, through two games, he has looked like a problem.
Chicago handed Johnson a four-year deal in 2024 after he stacked together his two best seasons and earned a second-team All-Pro selection in 2023. At the time, it felt like a move that locked down one of the league’s better corners. Since then, though, the picture has changed fast.
Injuries hit early last season, and Johnson never looked quite like the same player after he came back. He appeared in only seven games in 2025 and finished with two passes defended and one interception.
The Bears’ defense was already among the league’s worst in 2025, but there was at least hope the group could settle in as average this year. That hope has taken a hit quickly, and Johnson has been a big reason why.
The start to this season has been rough. Johnson looked bad against the Panthers in Week 1, then got picked apart by Justin Jefferson in Sunday’s loss.
To be fair, Jefferson does that to a lot of corners. Still, Johnson has not looked close to himself.
Through two games, he has allowed eight completions in coverage and posted a 114.8 passer rating when targeted. He has not recorded a pass breakup or an interception. It’s a tiny sample, sure, but that is not the kind of line you want from a corner being paid like one of the top 15 at his position.
Chicago’s defensive backfield was supposed to be the strength of the defense, but that has not shown up yet. The absence of Coby Bryant and the uncertainty around Kyler Gordon only make things messier, but Johnson is the one healthy, established piece expected to hold that unit together.
PFF has taken plenty of heat lately, and some of it has been deserved. Even so, the numbers there are hard to ignore: Johnson is currently 82nd out of 94 cornerbacks with a 44.2 grade.
The pass rush matters, of course. Cornerbacks rarely thrive when quarterbacks have time to sit back and pick apart coverage.
But this is not all on the front. Johnson has been consistently late, consistently behind, and consistently out of position.
Ben Johnson praised the camp he had, so maybe this is just a matter of him working back into game shape. For the Bears’ sake, it had better be.
If this level of play continues, what already looked like a difficult season for Chicago’s defense could get a lot uglier.
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