MarShawn Lloyd didn’t just score a touchdown on the Bears in Week 5. He delivered a jolt that seemed to echo through the rest of the afternoon at Lambeau Field.
With 14:56 left in the second quarter, Jordan Love handed off to Lloyd, who headed right behind his blocks and found himself near Chicago’s three-yard line with Jaylon Johnson squared up in front of him. Johnson tried to make the stop, but Lloyd, the 5-foot-9, 220-pound back, lowered his shoulder and drove through the collision. Johnson ended up on the turf, and Lloyd kept going into the end zone.
That moment was the kind of hit that can swing the mood of a game, and for Chicago, it helped set the stage for a rough one. Green Bay rolled to a 31-7 win, handing the Bears their second straight division loss and dropping them to 3-2 overall and 0-2 in the division. It also marked back-to-back seasons in which the Bears opened division play with two losses.
Lloyd’s run didn’t just land on the scoreboard. It also earned Kyle Brandt’s “Angry Run” Scepter on Good Morning Football, which tells you everything you need to know about how forceful the play looked in real time.
For Chicago, though, the bigger concern is what that snap said about Jaylon Johnson and the defense around him. Through five games, Johnson has allowed 77.3% of targets, with 17 catches for 286 yards. Pro Football Focus has him at a 44.3 tackling grade, and that number dipped to a season-low 28.6 after the Packers game.
The Bears were counting on Johnson to get back to the level he showed before injuries knocked him off course. He tore the adductor off his pelvic bone before training camp and missed the entire preseason.
Then in Week 2 against Detroit, he suffered a core muscle injury and landed on injured reserve. He also wasn’t the same player during the nine games he played last season, and he hasn’t looked like that top version yet this year.
Back in the summer, Ben Johnson said Jaylon Johnson finished training camp strong. Before Chicago’s joint practice with the Tennessee Titans, defensive coordinator Dennis Allen also sounded encouraged, saying Johnson was beginning to look like himself again and adding, “We need him to play at a very high level for us to be successful.”
That hasn’t happened so far. Against Green Bay, the Bears’ defense gave up 25 completions on 31 attempts to Love for 367 yards and two touchdowns, and the Packers were consistently able to attack deep.
If Johnson wants to change the conversation, the improvement has to come fast. Right now, he’s the defender on the wrong end of “Angry Runs,” and that is not where Chicago needs him to be.
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