Why Jaylon Johnson's second Pro Bowl is validation for the Chicago Bears star corner
LAKE FOREST, Ill. - Last year, the best way to describe Jaylon Johnson's NFL All-Pro season was "green."
The Chicago Bears' cornerback earned his second-team All-Pro nod and his first-career Pro Bowl nod, which then earned him a massive pay day as one of the stars of the Chicago Bears' defense.
On Thursday morning, Johnson got a call from interim head coach Thomas Brown. Make that two career Pro Bowls for Johnson now. The NFL released its Pro Bowl rosters on Thursday and Johnson is a starter at cornerback for the NFC.
That meant some validation for Johnson.
"My hard work has never stopped," he said Thursday. "It just continues to increase and go and into different levels and things like that. So, just God's grace has really been good this year."
The validation starts with how good Johnson has been this season.
The Bears have struggled. They're 4-12 on a 10-game losing streak. The defense, which was once believed to be a top-five unit, has lost some of its edge.
While an All-Pro nod might not be in Johnson's future, the Pro Bowl honor is something that's made sweeter because he had no idea.
"That's why I felt a little better," Johnson said. "It was unexpected."
It wasn't expected because Johnson knows the Bears have had a dismal season, and the teams that struggle don't usually catch the eye of post-season accolade decision makers.
"I feel like it's hard to get a guy on a Pro Bowl roster and with a team that's four and whatever we are right now," Johnson said. "Just normally things like that, the losing teams, don't get too many guys to those Pro Bowls and honors like that."
Johnson was good enough to buck that ideology.
Johnson is the first Bears' player to earn consecutive Pro Bowl honors since Khalil Mack earned three-straight Pro Bowl nods from 2018 to 2020.
In his 2024 season, Johnson recorded 48 tackles, two interceptions, seven pass breakups and seven tackles-for-loss as one of the biggest names on a Bears' defense which has established pros like Tremaine Edmunds and Montez Sweat, and emerging stars like Kyler Gordon and Gervon Dexter Sr.
"Well-deserved," Bears defensive coordinator Eric Washington said.
According to Pro Football Reference, Johnson has allowed 34 receptions this year on 52 targets. That's just two more receptions than he allowed last season, and Johnson has played in two more games than he did in 2023.
With an impending coaching change on the horizon at Halas Hall, Johnson is validated as a player that will stay in Chicago going on his third head coach.
Johnson second Pro Bowl nod has proved he can perform, no matter the coach or scheme
"For the most part, philosophy is the same, but you just got to relearn the terminology depending on who it is and kind of where their coaching background comes from," Johnson said. "It's just different terminology, but at the end of the day, we covered the coverages."