NEWSLETTER
The much-improved Chicago Bears defense is sending Montez Sweat and Jaylon Johnson to the Pro Bowl.
At this time last year, predicting the Bears having a Pro Bowl defender would’ve been met with a grand amount of laughter. But a year later, Chicago’s football team ranks 14th in DVOA and is sending a pair of standout performers to the Pro Bowl. What a difference a year can make.
With that being said, it only feels right that it was Bears Head Coach Matt Eberflus sharing the Pro Bowl news with his top players:
Tip your caps to Jaylon Johnson and Montez Sweat for a job well done.
Sweat has been a wrecking ball for the Bears since arriving at the trade deadline. The 27-year-old defensive end has 6 sacks and 14 quarterback hits in eight games with the Bears. And in eight games with the Washington Commanders, Sweat racked up 6.5 sacks and 11 quarterback hits. It all adds up to a 12.5-sack, 25-QB hit year for Sweat. Those are certainly Pro Bowl numbers.
As for Johnson, he is Pro Football Focus’ highest-graded cornerback. And he owns PFF’s best coverage grade. Johnson has four interceptions and 10 passes defended this season. He also has a forced fumble and a tackle-for-loss to his name this season. Jaylon Johnson has been doing it all for the Bears. It’s almost as if he deserves an extension. A Pro Bowl trip probably adds to that asking price.
A late Pro Bowl push for Johnson and Sweat
In addition to tipping your caps to Sweat and Johnson for playing their way onto the Pro Bowl roster, pat yourself on the back for your efforts in voting. In what is such an “only in Chicago” occurrence, Bears fans stuffed the ballot boxes for their favorite players.
Check this out from NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport:
If you don’t want to get out a magnifying glass for that tweet above, I don’t blame you. With that in mind, I’ll use this sentence to point out that a whole bunch of Bears finished in the top 10 of the fan vote. In addition to Jaylon Johnson (2nd among NFC cornerbacks) and Montez Sweat (4th among NFC defensive ends), the following Bears made it into the top 10 at their respective positions in the vote:
Altogether, the Bears had 11 players check in among the top-10 vote-getters at their positions. I can’t say I saw this coming when the Bears were 0-4 and 2-7 to start the year. But I suppose it makes sense that players got Pro Bowl vote love while the team was rattling off a bunch of wins in the last month. It’s almost as if good play gets rewarded. What a concept.
In the end, a trip to the Pro Bowl will be a nice cherry on top of the 2023 NFL season. But first, a game against the rival Green Bay Packers to show off their Pro Bowl skills.
