Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Anthony Herron breaks down Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson's struggles

Episode Date: September 21, 2026

Leila Rahimi and Mark Grote were joined by Score football analyst Anthony Herron to share his observations from the Bears' ugly 9-3 loss to the Vikings on Sunday.

Rahimi and Grotie. I mean, I'm just going to make it happen. I'm a dog. Midday, 10 a.m. to 2 on the score. He's got an open Josh Oliver and drops it in the bucket for 20 yards into bear's territory. T.J. Hockinson beg your pardon with the catch. And as it winds down to three minutes, it's first in 10, Minnesota. You're listening to a Plummer's 9-1-1 football Monday presented by Bucy Bank and great clips.

Everything we're doing today here on Rahimi, here's single. and grody. Shut up, Marshall. What's on Marshal? Yeah, that's appropriate. Breh me and Grotie today is subdued. Like, the energy around the game is subdued. I wanted to get Starbucks for the crew. Even our order is subdued. It's not the same.

We got a lot of plain coffees, and I got an Earl Grey Tea. And now we're doing... Down in a hole by Allison Chase. Like, it just, it all seems right. It does. It sounded perfect. It's so grungy. It's so down-tuned. It's so rainy and windy and... Gen X.

Don't get it. of a care. Black old son. Oh, yeah. Yes. Another one for the playlist today, aunt. That's almost too optimistic for what we're looking for. We got a suggestion from Iowa State, Mike, penny royalty.

Penny Royalty. Yeah, there's some good dark nerve. Yeah, all grunge for the rest of the day today. Oh, that was a song. I thought that was a drink suggestion. Well, they did probably could go. And by the way, we did. We've had a few texters ask us if how Riot Fest was for,

people who are interested in that. We'll have a deeper dive on our time at Riot Fest this weekend tomorrow, but there is, we did leave one Riot Fest question for five on it at noon. So if that's really what you're in it for today, fans of Rohingy and Grotty are just getting used to us. They got to talk about that music stuff they were doing. We will do that during five on it. But right now, we are talking about the Bears and we all agreed as a team, as Anthony

Herron does rejoin us, that Jalen Johnson should be a topic. The highlight you just heard on Fox was Jalen Johnson in coverage on T.J. Hawkinson for a second straight play where he kind of lost him in the pile and T.J. Hawkinson spurts out and gets the big play. What did you think about Jalen Johnson's play on this day? Because it seems sporadic again. Sporadic, I think, is a good word for it. And he was in phase with receivers frequently throughout the game. But there were some big moments where he wasn't. And there were some big moments where he guessed again. And here's the thing. I've been calling Jalen Johnson's games

since he was in college at Utah. One of his superpowers as a cover corner has always been that he's never felt a need to guess and he's just, whether you're talking double moves, in breaking routes, outcuts, he's

always been able to stay in phase with past catchers. Part of that just based off his raw natural ability, but then also the way he seems to be able to read the body mechanics of the person he covering. And there's, of course, so much film study that goes into it before this also to have a sense for what to anticipate. But you rarely see, have seen Jalen Johnson throughout his

career, just sort of getting lost in coverage. And now through two games, that's the case. Now, last season, I didn't see Jalen Johnson after he came back from injury. I didn't see a guy that was moving, planting and recovering, changing direction with the confidence the, the urgency, the suddenness that looked like someone who really felt good about where he was at physically. But to his credit, he wanted to get back into the lineup. He wanted to do what he could to help the team as they were pursuing a division title and a run in the playoffs. I don't see physical hesitation from Jalen Johnson right now. It does seem to me that when he's in recovery mode, he's planting his foot.

And at times, you can literally see him, put his head down and get into chase mode to try and catch up to recover. cover on the route. I do see a guy that surprisingly is guessing wrong multiple times here through both games. Now, you know, there's enough of a body of work where I feel like a physically confident looking Jalen Johnson. I still feel good about what he's what he's going to accomplish this season, but where I wasn't so worried about it last week. Now to me, this is two games in a row where I see a Jalen Johnson that's guessing on

routes. And again, his superpower has been, he doesn't have to. guess on routes and when he guesses, he's very consistently been right in reading routes throughout his career. I don't see him having that same sense, that same sensibility at where a route should be taking him. What's the reason for it? Is it a guy who, in what he termed as a contract year, is he trying to make more plays

on the ball? Because as much as staying in phase with the receiver has been one of the reasons where, frequently, whether college or pro, when he's been at his best, teams haven't even targeted Jaylon Johnson a whole lot. But the receivers he covers don't usually look open. Now he looks like he's trying to make plays on the ball, trying to anticipate, trying to guess.

Maybe that's him driving on a route looking for interceptions because he's never been a big interception guy. Part of it is because his coverage has been so sticky, he hasn't been targeted that much. Is he guessing wrong in trying to make some plays on the ball, maybe trying to get some picks? Or is he guessing wrong just because he's knocking the rust off and really trying to find him.

himself again in coverage. Either way, I do like that he's moving with confidence. He's just guessing wrong right now. But it's another game where he didn't look like the Jalen Johnson that we've seen him look like before. Yeah. And I'm looking at one in particular where he just looked slow. Beat at the line of scrimmage. It was the plus 16 early to Jordan Jefferson. And then Justin Jefferson. And that was the other part of it. We were trying to figure out whether or not Justin Jefferson would end up on Tyree Stevenson, which happened quite a bit. The 30-yarder, obviously. And then there was the near touchdown from whence that passed that just went through Jefferson's hands. But then there were also times where Jordan Addison and Jalen Johnson were matched up. There were times where Hawkinson and Jalen Johnson were matched up. But like when he's getting beat at the line of scrimmage, it's hard to say if like I know Greg Olson talked about this too, the eye discipline.

He pointed out Johnson specifically during the game. But at the same time, there were some times where you wonder if it really is athletically a concern when you see that he's, he's getting beat at the line like that. Just being, trying to chase and then his back is turned and then somebody's gone. And Jalen's a guy who's always been able to be very physical in coverage. Now, he's not someone who you're going to confuse like. Tyreek Stevenson is just an overall physical football player. He's a hitter at the corner.

He's a guy who can be a mammoth tackler on the back end. He's, of course, never been as sticky in coverage as Jalen has been. But in coverage, Jalen has always been able to be really physical. He's got long arms, and they train up specifically the target area within the sternum or even the lower shoulders that you're trying to hit to knock receivers off their route when they're releasing at the lines of scrimmage. He's always been really effective in just jamming guys when you get him in press coverage to reroute the pass catcher that throws off the timing of the quarterback that can give your pass rush a little more time to get home when the quarterback's eyes go to where he's hoping his past catcher will be. but if they've been knocked off the route, then you're not going to get there and you're not going to be able to really try to feed the football in.

And that's been one of the things that Jalen Johnson has been really effective at when he's in press man, when he's an off man. He's been a guy who's able to know that moment to drive on a route. And something just isn't clicking with it right now. And the best I can describe it is that it does seem like he's at least his body to me is moving with a lot more confidence right now than it did.

last season. Is there something right now for him mentally where he's not as confident in what he's seeing, not as confident in how he's moving or how he can recover that has him guessing? Who knows? Like physically these things can happen to athletes at a certain point when they're recovering from major injuries. I don't know that. So I wouldn't want to guess at that.

But those to me are the options that we would be looking at, just somebody who's still knocking the rest off mentally to really trust what he's seeing. Or who knows? like there gets a certain point. Now he's still in his late 20s right now. 27. Yeah. Right. But there have been major surgeries that he's recovered from here. But I'm still at a point where I feel like the version of Jalen Johnson that is moving with urgency that I feel good about what he'll be capable of as a corner. But it's not there yet through two games. Interesting. And on the other side, staying with the secondary, like Dylan Thineman seemed to have another good game. He had a

past defense in the end zone at one point in time. Here's what I'll say about Theteman, and then you could take it from there for the deeper dive. It looks like he knows what he's doing out there. At the very least, I don't know if he's great yet, but it looks like he knows where to be on a football field. The good thing is he's securing tackles as a safety, especially when you're playing as much shell coverage as the Bears are playing right now.

Just be in a position where when you get a chance to run the alley and put somebody on the ground, when you get a chance to run. take the proper angle and just make sure that somebody's not getting to the end zone past you. He's doing that. He's capable. He's got the ball skills to make splash plays. He made a bunch of splash plays in college. So we'll see if that evolution comes.

But as of right now, you know, some of his counterparts, like we were talking Malik Mohamed earlier, he's been in a position to really make plays, whether it's sacking the quarterback this week, intercepting pass last week. He's taking advantage of that. Whereas conversely, Sam Raoul. of course have had some opportunities to make catches, to make key blocks in short-yardage scenarios and on field goals. Sam Roush and my fellow Hawkeye, Logan Jones, they got beat in week one on a 40-yarder that

Cairo Santos hit where multiple defenders or multiple field goal wrestlers from the Panthers just leapt through the gap between them and rushed around the corner around Roush nearly blocked Cairo's 40-yarder in week one. So there's some things that, you know, a couple of the rookies, and you know, obviously we haven't seen much of Logan Jones, but Sam Rousch, a few different ways that he's struggled here through the first two weeks. Dylan Thineman, there haven't been splash plays, but when he's been tasked with just getting people on the ground, he's shown a willingness to run up, put a hat on somebody, and be physical. So at the safety position, through two games of your NFL

career, if that's the bare minimum, if this is the floor for Thineman and he'll continue to get better from here, then that's encouraging. What did you think about just the way Flores was able to combine the blitz looks and then also really limit a lot of the Bears playbook. I was not impressed, not surprised because that's who Brian Flores is. And through the two games we saw last season with the Vikings facing the Bears, the first game didn't have a lot of blitz to it. The second game certainly did have a lot more aggression with the way that they attacked. And they can do either.

And, you know, it puts you in this mental bind as an offense. that's where the play caller who's opposing a Brian Flores defense, you really have to find a way. And the players themselves have to find a way to just be confident in what they're seeing and then to execute it with detail and deficiency, to trust their technique, to trust their eyes, to trust the game plan. But there's so many hybrid bodies that the Vikings have where a safety can be a defensive end,

where a defensive end can be an off-ball linebacker, where an off-ball linebacker can line up like a three technique. They can move these pieces around so much that when you hear the term seeing ghosts, that's the type of defense that you hear quarterbacks and offensive players describing when that's the case, because an opposite colored jersey can mean anything. I've talked to you guys the entire time Ben Johnson has been here as the Bears head coach and offensive play caller

about the way he tests the eye discipline of the opposing defense. that's a big part of what gives his playmakers an opportunity to out leverage them, whether it's in the route tree or in the run game. Brian Flores does very similar things with the way he aligns on defense and the athletes that he puts in those positions because one guy can be capable of like four different jobs within their front seven. And it can be so difficult to discern who your assignment legitimately is. And that same hesitation that when offensively you make that defender,

hesitate and it can be a chunk play for you, that's where any hesitation on offense, when you're uncertain, when you come out of your stance, if you're oozing because you're trying to think which guy is really my guy, they come flying by you into the backfield and then you get the QB running all over the place trying to see if he can, you know, make chicken salad out of something else. You know what? And real quick, you mentioned, we talked about Garrett Bradbury a couple times. You mentioned the name Logan Jones.

There was a murmur in the press box yesterday. of, maybe is Logan Jones going to get down the field sooner? And my first instinct is to say, if you're having early chemistry issues with a quarterback trying to get used to a veteran player, then wouldn't it be that much worse with Logan Jones? In other words, is that even a plausible thing to think about that Logan Jones could take over sooner than we thought for Garrett Bradbury because of two bad games? I don't see that happening yet. Just like I don't see, you know, I had a bunch of folks on the tech.

And some folks calling in on the post-to-post show last night said, well, they got to get rid of this Roush kid or why is he playing so much. The Bears are a team that's going to use three tight ends, and they drafted Sam Roush in the third round. He's going to be in action. Now, we'll get to a point in the season where that development art, just like, you know, Craig Counsel and the Cubs. And we try to figure out, well, why aren't they changing the lineup more frequently? Or how come that guy is still in the rotation? There's a patience with a body of work to allow the opportunity for like a true evaluation of someone. And they made it a point to go get Garrett Bradbury to bring him in to be the starting center to work with the starting quarterback Caleb Williams.

And they could build that rhythm together. It's not there yet. But it's not just him. And it's not just them. There's penalties all over the place. There's pre-snap and post-snap infractions that are happening. It's likely going to get cleaned up. I think we can trust Ben Johnson enough to think it's going to get cleaned up.

And they're not likely to play in that type of precipitation very often throughout the year here. That's a factor in these things too. But we just saw it last season with a guy that everyone wishes hadn't retired from football and Drew Dalman. He struggled early in the year last year too. There's a lot to this Ben Johnson playbook. Brad Bear's a really bright guy. I think he's going to get it figured out. I don't see Logan Jones having much of a shot to enter the lineup yet unless he's just blowing them away in practice.

somehow. Right. Anthony, thank you for your insights. As always, I always feel like we've made a little bit more sense of things after we get done talking to you, and I appreciate that. I appreciate both of you. Thanks, Aunt. There goes. Anthony Heron of the score, 1043, the score, the Big Ten Network, Fox 32, NBC Sports. We love talking to Big Ant, and we love talking to the townspeople. Let's do another round of calls with Bears' callers. If you'd like to talk about this, Bears, 93 lost to the Vikings.

What is on your mind about it? 312 644, 67. If you've been on hold, you will be rewarded next on Rahimi and Grotia. 1043 does score.