Bears defense and Jaylon Johnson rebound by dominating Browns

Actually, Johnson was one-on-one with Browns receiver Jerry Jeudy and maybe a bit behind at the goal line when the ball came between the two. It wasn't actually clear whether Johnson plucked it, or took it right out of Jeudy's hands.

"I would say, I mean, you tell me," Johnson said because he had no idea. "I had the ball and I ran right through the end zone."

The touchback ended a threat with the Bears up 21-3 and the offense converted it into an 80-yard TD drive to lock up the win. Combined with Green Bay's loss at Denver, the Bears took back over first place in the NFC North.

It was Johnson's first interception since Week 3 of last season and now, combined with the picks by D'Marco Jackson and C.J. Johnson-Gardner, the Bears' defense has a league-high total of 21 picks and also league-high 30 takeaways.

"It means a lot," Johnson said. "I mean, we're not really talking money (stats) right now. We've got bigger and btter things to accomplish, but those turnovers are definitely impacting on the game."

Johnson sees more on the horizon if he can keep working toward 100% after the surgery.

"I think I mean it's getting better week by week as far as how my body feels but it's still a long process just trying to make it better stronger," he said.

The defense allowed Sanders only 177 yards passing on 18 of 35, and 89 of the yards came on catches by Jeudy. The 192 total net yards gained by Cleveland's offense was the best effort by a Bears defense since they held Mike Glennon and the New York Giants to 155 yards on Jan. 2, 2021 in a 29-3 Bears win.

"I can't say enough good things here about our defense," coach Ben Johnson said. I think this was really an outstanding performance. I know we gave up a couple explosives that we'd like to have back but outside of one or two plays they did a really phenomenal job shutting down the run game, making it second and long, third and long and getting off the field.

"When you combine that with the takeaways, once again, three takeaways there in the second half which were enormous for us, it really, I thought carried the day for us."

Johnson labeled the interception by Jackson as game-altering. The Bears led 14-3 at the time and momentum seemed to be swaying in the third quarter. Jackson batted the ball into the air and then plucked it to set up the 22-yard TD pass by Caleb Williams to DJ Moore.

"He's done such a great job coming in at the end of training camp or whenever that was and picking up the defense," Johnson said of Jackson, a former Saints player. "I know he had some familiarity there with DA (Defensive Coordinator Dennis Allen), but to go from a guy contributing on special teams to playing significant snaps at Mike linebacker, I think that's a big credit to him.”