Jaylon Johnson Feeling Entirely Healthy Now

A few weeks after an oblique injury suffered against Miami, Jaylon Johnson now says he's 100% improved and prepared to handle the pressure Atlanta's running game applies.

Jaylon Johnson calls his oblique injury 100% better than last week.

It may need to be better than 100% improved considering what Johnson and the Bears defense might need to do at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

"Definitely a weekend having some time off, being able to let my body rest a little bit definitely did did me good and then doing some more exercises just, really working at it," Johnson said.

And presto, he is back, no practice time missed this week and ready to face the Atlanta Falcons, who put pressure on cornerbacks with both their passing and running game.

It's a quick recovery, but modern athletic medicine can work wonders.

Johnson thought the oblique injury shut down his explosiveness.

"My quick-twitch, kind of, just really being able to move," he said.

As a result, a 44-yard completion occurred at game's end to Detroit's Tom Kennedy and Johnson experienced one of his worst games in terms of Pro Football Focus' grading system.

Johnson went into a lengthy description of the way the oblique lmited him.

"You need your core to be able to (cover) and I feel like when you press in making certain breaks certain movements is taking a lot taking a lot out of me," he said.

Bears defensive coordinator Alan Williams didn't want to comment on the specifics of Johnson's injury or reovery, but did relate something about Johnson in relation to his competitiveness.

"I do know this, when Jaylon hasn't performed up to his standards, I do know the next week you can almost bet the next week is going to be better," Williams said. "He's prideful, he's smart, he's tough, he's mentally stable.

"And so I guarantee you this week will be even better than last week."

The game still eats at Johnson.

"I thought it's one of those things for me where I know that could have been a game that I allowed no catches and I thought that's one of those things, too, where they they (the Lions) know that," Johnson said. "What I thought, they know that they got they got away with some with some uncharacteristic things out of me but I mean, it comes with it.

"I feel like I showed a lot of a lot of toughness still playing through it, still being able to make some plays, tackle, set edges and really just play through the pain at the end of the day."

Tackling and set edges will be particularly important this week so he'll need to be healthy. The Falcons are second only to the Bears in rushing with 1,604 yards, nowhere near the Bears total but a good amount. They run a wide-zone blocking scheme like the Bears offense, one the Bears defense definitely has worked against.

"You're seeing some of the same plays on a regular basis, some of the same plays that we saw in camp," Williams said. "Whenever you have a familiar scheme, the guys, they only block it so many different ways, so the guys are a little bit familiar with that.

"But at the end of the day it's still man matchups. It's still, can I whip my man? Can I whip the guy across from me? Can I tackle the guy? Can I set an edge? It still comes down to that. So I’d say both. Yes, we have some familiarity with the offense, but it’s still gona be, 'Hey, can I whip my guy that's across from me?' "

It's much easier to do when you're healthy.

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