Jaylon Johnson has endured one of the roughest stretches in Chicago Bears history. The cornerback arrived right after the peak moment of 2018 and has watched the franchise sink to its lowest depths in arguably decades. He reached his breaking point last season, venting his frustrations in a famous locker room blowup following the Bears’ gut-wrenching loss to the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving. He was tired of the excuses, tired of the laziness, and more than anything, tired of watching Matt Eberflus hold a job he was unqualified for.
Make no mistake. Johnson has taken some thinly veiled shots at the Bears’ former head coach more than once in the past few months. He holds Eberflus responsible for several of the team’s ills last season. If that weren’t clear, he made it so during an interview with Fox 32. He was asked about Ben Johnson and the new coaching staff. His answer spoke volumes, implying that Johnson does all the little things that Eberflus never did. That is why responsibility for success will be squarely on the players this year.
Bears CB Jaylon Johnson on Ben Johnson & the new coaches:
“I don’t feel like this is gonna be a staff where we can try to blame it on somebody else and things like that. It’s going to be real cleared up and cleaned up for us and we gotta go out there and win.”
🎥: @fox32news pic.twitter.com/iW0pdE20fh
— Bearsszn (@bearssznn) July 11, 2025
Jaylon Johnson has always wanted this.
He is a competitor who believes hard work is the only way to improve. The problem is that not everybody on the team has the same motivation as he does. That is why you need a tough and detailed coaching staff to keep guys on task. Eberflus had that problem from the jump. While he had no problems getting guys to play hard, he rarely had them playing smart. That is why the Bears constantly seemed to fold at the end of games. Eberflus’ poor game management only made things worse. Jaylon Johnson can already see a difference with Ben and his staff. That should give fans some comfort. If this carries over into the season, and it usually does, this team should start closing out some of those tight games this year.