Bears still gauging seriousness of Johnson’s injury

Bears head coach Ben Johnson and some players met with reporters virtually Monday, a day after their 52-21 loss to the Detroit Lions.

Chicago’s defense had no answers for Detroit’s playmakers and the unit sustained more injuries. Meanwhile, quarterback Caleb Williams and the offense were inconsistent again and couldn’t sustain drives because of turnovers and penalties.

The Bears will try to reverse their fortunes as they get ready to host the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday at Soldier Field. Here are three of the most interesting things the Bears said Monday.

On injuries

Johnson told reporters the Bears are still gathering information on the severity of cornerback Jaylon Johnson’s groin injury he suffered in the second quarter of Sunday’s game. Ben Johnson said it was a new injury and the team should have more information in the coming days.

ESPN first reported earlier Monday that Jaylon Johnson was out indefinitely and the Bears would need to evaluate whether the star cornerback will need surgery. Jordan Schultz later reported that Johnson would likely be out for the remainder of the season because the injury will require surgery.

During an interview with 670 The Score on Monday, Jaylon Johnson called the injury complex and confirmed he originally tore the adductor off his pelvic bone. The new injury is on the other side. He also said he didn’t feel rushed to return by the Bears.

“I felt comfortable playing,” Jaylon said. “If I didn’t feel comfortable, I wouldn’t have played no matter what anybody was saying.”

Johnson missed all of training camp and the season-opener against the Minnesota Vikings with a calf and groin injury. He played his first game Sunday and made a jumping pass breakup that ended with Johnson laying on the field injured before he walked off and went to the locker room.

Losing Johnson for any length of time will be a blow to an already injured secondary.

“He’s a good player,” Ben Johnson said. “He’s a Pro Bowl player for a reason and he’s a guy that you want out there on the field for you, particularly when you give up that many passing yards.”

Ben Johnson said linebacker T.J. Edwards (hamstring) and cornerback Kyler Gordon (hamstring) were both considered week-to-week. Edwards left Sunday’s game after missing the season-opener. Gordon has missed the first two games of the season.

On offensive improvement

Although the offense showed some of the same inconsistencies Sunday it had in its opener against the Vikings, Johnson said he saw significant growth, primarily from Williams.

The numbers for Williams looked relatively the same from Week 1. Williams threw for 210 yards and a touchdown and completed 60% of his passes against Minnesota. Against Detroit, Williams threw for 207 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, completing 63.3% of his pass attempts.

“It’s not perfect yet,” Johnson said. “There’s still a number of plays where our eyes aren’t quite in the right position or we’re holding onto the ball just a tick longer than what we’re coaching. But I did see tremendous growth in terms of going through the progression. There were a few times there where we had to get to number three or four in the read and he was trusting his feet and his footwork and was able to get there. I did think he got better from Week 1 to Week 2.”

The Bears started both their first two games by scoring on their opening possession, something they failed to do all of last season. But pre-snap penalties and turnovers have stopped the offense from building off those strong starts.

“Just play clean,” running back D’Andre Swift said. “There will be flashes. Early on in that game, they go down and score and we respond right away. Those are the type of things that, if we’re gonna be the type of team we know we can be, we have to do that each and every drive. We can’t shoot ourselves in the foot offensively, going against a team like that. If it’s going to be a shootout, we need to be right with that, shooting our own offense as well. With the penalties and things like that kind of have to stop. And that’s everybody. That’s a collective effort.”

On the defense

The Bears’ defense on Sunday gave up 52 points in a game for the first time since 2014 and allowed Detroit to score on six straight possessions.

Johnson remained confident in the defense despite Sunday’s showing. He saw how disruptive it can be during training camp and said it can get back to the level of play.

“We brought in (defensive coordinator) Dennis Allen for a reason — he does a phenomenal job coaching it to not only the coaches but the players,” Johnson said. “I got a lot of faith and confidence that the experience we have on that side of the ball is gonna shine through for us, and we’ll get this thing back cranking the way we want it to go.”

A major fix will be creating a pass rush. Chicago finished without a sack Sunday and had four quarterback hits.

Johnson said the Bears will need to find ways to pressure Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, whether that’s getting more out of their four rushers or even sending more. Defensive tackle Grady Jarrett said the Bears need to do a better job adjusting from a run defense to a pass and take their shots at getting the quarterback sooner.

Getting more out of top pass rusher Montez Sweat will be a major step in the right direction. Sweat has one quarterback hit and no sacks through two games. He had a sack in Sunday’s game but it was nullified due to offsetting penalties.

Johnson wants Sweat to capitalize more on the rare one-on-one matchups he gets. But Johnson said improving the pass rush is more of a collective responsibility.

“(Sweat is) doing some really good things for us, even if it’s not showing up on the stat sheet quite yet in terms of getting close to the quarterback in the passing game,” Johnson said. “And he is doing a nice job in the run game as well.”