If Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson looked less than completely thrilled after his unlikely interception at the front right pylon of the end zone Sunday, it was with good reason: he hasn’t quite been himself since returning from groin injury.
“I’m more so based on, like, a feel, and I haven’t felt like myself. …” Johnson said Wednesday. “An interception is cool, but I just want to get back to just really being myself. I’m taking the right step, and I’m getting closer, but in that moment it’s just like ‘All right, whatever, I’ll take it.”
“I just want to get back to being dominant.”
That might not come this season. The two-time Pro Bowl player, after all, missed all of training camp after tearing the the adductor muscle off his pelvic bone in July. He sat out Game 1, returned for Game 2 and tore a different part of his groin. He had surgery that at the time he thought could be season-ending.
Johnson returned from injured reserve last month against and has been in a timeshare since. He played 61% of the time against the Eagles and 66% of the time against the Packers. He was down to 40% last week both because of the score of the game and the return of Tyrique Stevenson, who shared time with him.
The Bears have been rotating Johnson in with eyes on the rest of the season — and, if they get in, the postseason.
“It’s not something I would say (I’m) used to, but I’m just really letting that benefit my body right now,” Johnson said of the timeshare. “It’s important for me to continue to go do that, and then we’ll see what these upcoming weeks look like as far as my workload.”
He’s racing the clock.
“The injury I have, it’s one of those where you have to keep stretching it and stretching it out,” he said. “And then it’ll get stronger as time goes on.”
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