Please don’t tell Jaylon Johnson there’s little left to play for this season. Sure, the Chicago Bears have lost seven straight and are in last place in the NFC North by five games. They have watched all the promise this season once seemed to hold disintegrate right in front of their eyes. And amid all the commotion at Halas Hall — which has included the Nov. 29 firing of coach Matt Eberflus plus the termination of offensive coordinator Shane Waldron three weeks before that — there would be understandable reasons for Bears players to feel emotionally defeated and mentally spent at this stage.
But with four games remaining, Johnson has vowed not to travel that road.
“When you step between those lines, you’re trying whoop the man in front of you,” he said in front of his locker stall Thursday afternoon. “That’s still what the game is about.”
Plus this week Johnson is preparing for another high-profile matchup with standout Minnesota Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson. That battle will take place Monday night at U.S. Bank Stadium. There’s little room for slippage.
“You still play for your name,” Johnson said. “Your resume is still out there. You can tank all you want and that film is going to be out there forever. So I know when I step out there, there’s always something to prove. Regardless of the circumstances.”
Don’t get it twisted. Johnson has been affected significantly by all this losing as the Bears’ tumble has gotten only more astounding with each passing game.
“It’s been a tough few weeks,” Johnson acknowledged Thursday, “(a tough) few months now at this point.”
And if we’re really telling the full truth, he could have tacked “a rough few years” on to the end of that assessment. After all, since the Bears drafted him in 2020, Johnson has yet to experience a winning season. The Bears reached the playoffs when he was a rookie. But that was with an 8-8 record and a backdoor entry into the postseason as the NFC’s first-ever No. 7 seed following a stunning Week 17 home loss to the Packers. The Bears went on to get blown out in the wild-card round by the New Orleans Saints in a game that was far more lopsided than the 21-9 score indicated.
And in the four seasons since? Johnson has been part of in-season losing streaks of five games (2021), 10 games (2022) and four games (2023). Now there’s this current seven-game slide that has been nothing short of dispiriting.
“At this point, five years into it and going through this, you start building tough skin,” Johnson said.
With that, Johnson emphasized Thursday, he also has been leaning into perspective as a coping mechanism.
“I’m just thanking God for the opportunity to play this game,” he said, “because honestly it could be a lot worse. I could not be healthy. I could not be playing the game that I love. So honestly it’s just showing gratitude. And then with that, that brings me more motivation to keep going out and playing, knowing I have more opportunities to play. Again it’s cherishing these moments with these guys in the locker room. We want to compete.”
Earlier in the day, rookie quarterback Caleb Williams acknowledged his own struggles in dealing with this prolonged losing streak and said he was leaning into veteran teammates for guidance and perspective. Johnson said he has not spoken with Williams directly but did offer his counsel Thursday afternoon.
“Honestly,” Johnson said, “my advice is just continue to prepare yourself the right way. Take the right steps. But we’re bigger than wins and losses on Sunday. So always remember that. I go home with a smile on my face, happy to see my family, my kids. There is plenty more to be happy about than the wins and losses of a football season.”
Those sentiments, however, shouldn’t be misinterpreted as indifference.
“It’s not something where you just want to get complacent with this and just be OK with losing,” Johnson said. “I think everybody goes and prepares the right way and takes the right steps. We practice the right way. And I feel like sometimes when you get into a game and it doesn’t go your way, you have to just chalk it up sometimes as part of life.”
These next 25 days of life will offer Johnson and the Bears three games against NFC North opponents who already have beaten them once. That should help spike the motivation to compete.
Monday’s test for Johnson includes that showdown with Jefferson, whom he helped limit to two catches for 27 yards three weeks ago. Replicating that will be difficult.
“He’s a problem,” interim coach Thomas Brown said of Jefferson. “I don’t think anybody necessarily has a true answer for how to stop elite players (like him). So I’m not going to act like we have some magical formula. Because there is none.”
But Johnson will try to build on the success he had last month in slowing the All-Pro receiver.
“Looking at it, I had those two (pass-interference penalties),” he said. “I wish I’d have played a little cleaner on those. But overall I think I did a really good job. I was physical at the line of scrimmage. I made him uncomfortable at times. And we gave him different looks as a defense. Overall, we played him really well. We just have to be able to strap it up again and go right back at it.”
Johnson grinned as he spoke. The opportunity to compete at a high level is still there. Another chance to whoop the man in front of him awaits.
Injury update: The Bears held a walk-through Thursday at Halas Hall and issued an estimated injury report that listed five players as non-participants: D’Andre Swift (groin), Roschon Johnson (concussion), Ryan Bates (concussion), Josh Blackwell (shoulder) and Gervon Dexter (knee). Safety Elijah Hicks, meanwhile, was listed as limited with the ankle injury that has kept him out of the last three games.
