The Bears held a closed walkthrough at Halas Hall Tuesday as they get set to face the Minnesota Vikings Monday night next week.
Top cornerback Jaylon Johnson is hoping to play in that opening game. Because of an injury, the only time he has been seen doing work this summer was before the Buffalo Bills preseason game.
"I'm doing everything I can to play. I know I had a good workout this morning, so I'm feeling good — probably the best I've felt all season, well, training camp per se," Johnson said. "But just trying to do everything I can to be back."
Johnson said it was a pretty bad groin injury that kept him out all of camp, and conditioning is a bit of a concern, at least for game one.
"I mean, I like to say I can go out there and play, but it's definitely hard to. It's like, if we had a game today, it wouldn't be a thing," Johnson said. "But I think really, this week will be important for me to get the pads back on, get practices under my belt, game speed, moving around, covering guys, communicating."
Bears head coach Ben Johnson said caution is necessary when it comes to Jaylon Johnson in the wake of his injury.
"Whenever a guy misses that significant time, you're very cautious in making sure that injury doesn't recur again," Johnson said. "So, you know, I know he's feeling significantly better than obviously he was from the start."
Coach Johnson officially named Braxton Jones as the starting left tackle. He said Jones hasn't been perfect in camp, but they trust that he knows what to do — and think he'll keep getting better with more reps coming back from offseason ankle surgery.
Matt Zahn
Matt Zahn joined CBS2 Chicago in October 2016 as a sports reporter and fill-in sports anchor, and what a time to come to Chicago. Matt arrived just as the Cubs won the World Series.