Chicago Bears: 5 biggest takeaways from the Week 7 win vs. the Raiders
The Chicago Bears reminded their fanbase how it felt to dominate defensively against the Las Vegas Raiders
2. Jaylon Johnson secures the bag
Jaylon Johnson has heard everything. He’s a good coverage guy, but he doesn’t turn the ball over. He doesn’t deserve to be paid like a top cornerback. The Bears should consider trading him.
On Sunday, Chicago Bears CB Jaylon Johnson silenced the critics with two fourth-quarter interceptions that shut down any hopes of a comeback from the Raiders.
In particular, his first pick was an absolute dagger. With the Raiders down by 18, Johnson played perfect coverage on Davante Adams, allowing him to jump a Brian Hoyer pass intended for Davante Adams and take it to the house.
It was the first defensive touchdown of the year for the Chicago Bears; yet Johnson was not satisfied, picking off rookie Aidan O’Connell on the following drive to put a cherry on top of a remarkable performance.
Jaylon Johnson has improved every year that he’s been in the National Football League. This year is clearly no exception.
He has been highly graded in coverage and now must be considered a threat to take the ball away. Johnson was blunt when asked about his contract situation after the game, as he should be.
Ryan Poles extending Jaylon Johnson should be a mere formality after this game. While we’ve seemed to draft well in the secondary, Johnson has a chance to be a lockdown CB1 for a very long time.
3. Is the return of the Monsters of the Midway imminent?
Now, I won’t get ahead of myself. While the Chicago Bears’ defense has played exceedingly improved football over the last three weeks, their competition has been underwhelming.
We all know the old adage, though: You can only play the teams on your schedule. No matter what you think of Washington, Minnesota, or Las Vegas, they are still NFL offenses.
The Bears’ defense easily could’ve disappointed. Instead, they turned in a third straight impressive performance that had me reminiscing of days gone by.
Maybe those days are on the horizon once more. Multiple players stepped up in Week 7, including our new leader of the defense, MLB Tremaine Edmunds.
Edmunds started off the season slow as he acclimated to his new surroundings, but after intercepting an errant pass intended for Raiders RB Josh Jacobs, Edmunds has now taken the ball away twice on the season.
With a physical profile that fits exactly what you want from your middle linebacker in a Cover 2 scheme, Edmunds has the talent to be a serious problem for opposing offenses. His job is also much easier when the front four play well.
Perhaps it is no coincidence that DT Justin Jones had a big impact on Sunday’s game. On multiple occasions, Jones won his matchup and was able to pressure the QB or plug holes in the run game. This was reflected in his first sack of the season.
With Gervon Dexter stacking impressive performances as a rookie, there has been discussion among fans and pundits about starting him sooner rather than later.
If this is how Justin Jones has responded to that speculation, then I hope he keeps his ears low to the ground all season.