Jaylon Johnson sometimes makes tremendous demands of himself with what seems like outlandish statements.When he talked about being All-Pro or being paid like one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL, it seemed far-fetched. Here he is, the No. 1 graded cornerback, No. 1 in pass coverage for Pro Football Focus and a big pay day doesn’t seem so crazy with his contract expiring after this season.
On Thursday Johnson put a real demand upon the entire defense, not merely himself. He called for the defense to pick up a shutout in one of the next two games, against either Atlanta Sunday at Soldier Field or of the Packers at Lambeau Field in the finale.
“I think we’re due for a shutout,” Johnson said. “I mean, just, I think that’s something that I don’t think we’ve done this year.”
They haven’t done it for 13 seasons actually. The last shutout was when the NFC North champions and NFC Championship Game qualifiers went to Miami and shut out Brandon Marshall and the Dolphins 16-0 on Nov. 18, 2010.
“Honestly, doing something new,” Johnson continued. “I mean, we’ve had four-turnover games, interceptions, touchdowns we have, but I think if we can come out with a shutout in the next two weeks, one of these games, I think that would be very big for us as a group and establish us as a dominant defense.”
It wasn’t long ago the Bears were hoping to win a game and end a 14-game losing streak. Now Johnson is talking shutouts.
Atlanta’s offense and Bijan Robinson, no doubt, would have something to say about this.
Actually, it’s been a lot longer than 13 years since the Bears shut anyone out at Soldier Field. No Bears team has done it in this building.
The last home shutout was in the old Soldier Field, in coach Dave Wannstedt’s first year, on Oct 3, 1993 when they beat none other than the Atlanta Falcons, 6-0.
Johnson sees something like that as the proper way to cap off their defense’s rise.
“I mean, you don’t want to pick up with a nasty taste left in your mouth,” he said. “Honestly, so just trying to stay on top, trying to win these last two games as a team and then just as a defense continue to dominate. Like I said, if we can get a shutout in one of these next two games that can speak voluemes as to what we can do in the future.”
It seems like a tall order considering Atlanta has plenty of weapons, from Robinson to Tyler Allgeier in the backfield, to Cordarrelle Patterson, Drake London and Kyle Pitts catching passes. They also have some good offensive linemen. Quarterback has been their inconsistent position and Taylor Heinicke is now playing the position again after Desmond Ridder struggled.
The Bears haven’t allowed more than 16 points to an opposing offense at home since Denver scored 31 on Oct. 1.
“I think we all have some plays that we can go out there and make individually and as a team,” Johnson said.
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