LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Jaylon Johnson was working out privately during a down period in the Bears’ offseason calendar, repping out techniques required to be the elite cornerback he has become.

He and other cornerbacks were working with a group of receivers on releases at the line of scrimmage, with movement he had done countless times before. A sharp pain disrupted this routine, though, and signaled big trouble.

“I would say (it was) a freak accident,” Johnson said Tuesday in his first meeting with Chicago reporters this summer. “As far as the injury, (it’s the) same movement I’ve made plenty of times, and had a pretty bad, bad injury in my groin.”

Johnson knew right away that he suffered a significant setback, and that the pre-training-camp timing of it made things worse.

“When (it happened), I felt that I knew I was going to be out some time because the amount of pain that I had and just the feeling that I had,” Johnson said. “I knew it was going to be out. But I think for me, it was just like in that moment, just letting God work through me and around me in whatever way it looked like, whatever he was protecting me from, or preparing me for, I was taking it head-on.

“It has definitely been a journey. It has been frustrating, going in the training room to the weight room, back to the training room for six, seven, eight weeks now. So, I mean, for me, it’s just a mental test, but I’m coming out better.”

Will he be well enough to play in Monday night’s 2025 season opener against the Minnesota Vikings? The jury’s still out on that.

Johnson said he hoped to be cleared for practice Tuesday — the Bears essentially conducted an afternoon walk-through — where he could test himself with greater intensity. He has most of this week to get acclimated in a new system, but that’s not much time for a player who has missed six full weeks of work.

While Johnson wouldn’t rule it out, ramping up so he’s ready to play against the Vikings seems like a long shot. He has to regain his conditioning, especially at a cornerback spot where he’ll be left alone playing press-man coverage.

“I’d like to say I can go out there and play but, I mean, it’s definitely hard, too,” Johnson said. “I feel like if we had a game today, it wouldn’t be a thing. But I think, really, this week will be important for me to get the pads back on, get practices under my belt, game speed, moving around, covering guys, communicating. I think that all will help me. But again, there’s not too much you can replicate in the game.”

Johnson spent training camp on the active/non-football-injury list, making him unable to participate in on-field work or, with rare exception, be on the field with his teammates. It’s isolating to a large extent, especially during practices than contain good work and bonding moments.

Johnson is ever so close to a return, but the veteran knows better than to rush the process. Suffering a setback with an ambitious return to action is a worst-case scenario for Johnson and the Bears, so caution should and will be exercised.

“Whenever a guy misses that significant amount of time, you’re very cautious in making sure that injury doesn’t recur,” Bears head coach Ben Johnson said in a Tuesday press conference. “Again, I know he’s feeling significantly better than obviously he was from the start. We’ll see what he looks like moving around and hopefully take it from there. I know he’s excited to get back out with his teammates here soon.”

The Bears can survive with real cornerback depth, as they have all summer. Nahshon Wright has been solid as a first-team player in camp and would start opposite Tyrique Stevenson if Jaylon Johnson can’t go.

The Bears would receive a huge lift when Johnson is ready to return and add his talent to a defense that was excellent throughout its first camp under coordinator Dennis Allen.

“It’s energy-driven,” Johnson said. “I feel like the more that we had energy, the more dominant we were that day. And I feel like the times where we didn’t have that energy, it kind of showed in some of the execution. I think, really, for me, coming back is just bringing that energy, bringing that juice, and then, of course, dominating in coverage. And that’s going to be something that I’m going to be able to do this year.”

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