It looked like the Chicago Bears lost an important member of their secondary in the third quarter of their 36-7 win over the Houston Texans when rookie cornerback Jaylon Johnson left the game with a shoulder injury.
It was especially concerning given Johnson’s injury history when it comes to his shoulders. Johnson has had surgery twice on his left shoulder and once on his right shoulder in college.
But luckily for the Bears, it appears that Johnson’s shoulder injury isn’t significant. In fact, Matt Nagy believes Johnson is on track to play Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings.
Matt Nagy says Jaylon Johnson is still being evaluated in terms of the depth of his shoulder injury. Nagy was hopeful that he can play Sunday.
— Mark Grote (@markgrotesports) December 14, 2020
“He’s a tough kid,” Nagy said. “We’ve got to just stay on him, make sure we keep him healthy here and hopefully have him ready for this coming week.”
Nagy declined to reveal which shoulder Johnson injured, but the Sun-Times’ Jason Lieser believes it looked like the right shoulder.
The Bears are already down a cornerback with Buster Skrine, who missed Sunday’s game against the Texans with a concussion. Duke Shelley got some significant reps in Skrine and later Johnson’s absences.
The hope remains Chicago will have their star rookie cornerback available to them in what’s essentially become a play-in game for the playoffs, as the Bears need to beat the Vikings to keep their postseason hopes alive.
