When Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson erupted on former coach Matt Eberflus in the visiting locker room in Detroit on Thanksgiving, perhaps the tipping point for Eberflus’ firing the next day, it was years in the making.
Johnson’s pent-up exasperation predated Eberflus. It’s rooted in the Bears essentially wasting the first five years of his promising career and, as he put it, “At some point you blow up.” They’ve gone 28-53 since drafting him in the second round in 2020, including 4-10 this season going into yet another meaningless game Sunday against the Lions.
In just those five years, Johnson has seen the full spectrum of Bears incompetence, and Eberflus’ mishandling of the clock at the end of the Lions game pushed him over the edge.
“I wouldn’t even say it had anything to do with [Eberflus],” Johnson told the Sun-Times on Wednesday. “It had everything to do with losing. We’re doing things right and still not winning games. We’ve had plenty of those.
“When you lose so much — and you put so much into it — it starts to take a toll on you a little bit. And instead of letting that out at home or something, I let that out in the midst of the frustration in the locker room. I did it the right way. I didn’t demean anybody. I wasn’t disrespectful in any way. It was just emotionally expressing my frustration from over the years.”
It hasn’t been the season Johnson wanted after signing a four-year, $76 million contract extension in March and expecting a bright future. He’ll be watching the playoffs from home again, but was adamant that he hasn’t checked out and said, “The pride that I have in my craft and competing will never waver no matter what the team’s record is.”
Johnson has once again been the Bears’ best corner, as he has been since the day they drafted him, though he hasn’t been totally satisfied with his season.
He had two interceptions in the first three games, but none since. He has been targeted just 45 times, according to Pro Football Reference, compared to 88 times combined for fellow outside corners Tyrique Stevenson and Terell Smith. Johnson has allowed a 62.2 completion percentage and an 88.9 passer rating, and the last three opponents threw his way a combined six times.
“I’ve been playing well, playing solid, just wish I could make some more plays,” Johnson said.
Interim coach Thomas Brown reiterated Wednesday that Johnson not having a captain’s patch on his jersey against the Vikings was “1000%” an equipment error and praised his “consistent” performance.
Brown thought Johnson was “in a great spot” mentally despite the Bears’ mounting defeats. He was fine with him speaking his mind behind closed doors, including the confrontation at Ford Field, but would have preferred those episodes stay in-house rather than be aired out to the public.
Johnson always seems to be transparent about how he feels, and everyone can see it’s been an emotionally turbulent season for him.
He ripped into himself after the Week 2 loss to the Colts in which he had an interception but also let Alec Pierce — “That’s not a receiver that should ever catch a pass on me,” he fumed — burn him for a 44-yard catch. Against the Packers last month, Johnson tripped and allowed a pivotal 60-yard pass to Christian Watson, then bristled that the losses were “almost comical” at that point.
Leading up to that fateful game in Detroit, Johnson sounded bleaker than ever when discussing the Bears’ outlook, saying, “I don’t do all the hopes and dreams and all that. I’ve been in slumps five years in a row.”
That’s a damning statement on the organization — one that fellow 2020 draft pick Cole Kmet could say, too. Johnson is one of the few things the Bears have gotten right in the last several years, and they’re squandering his prime.
