Montez Sweat and Jaylon Johnson Named to Pro Bowl

The Sweat effect didn't come to Chicago's defense soon enough to help win a playoff berth, but Pro Bowl is another matter

The Bears defensive end made the Pro Bowls for the first time in his career and will be joined in the games by fellow defensive player Jaylon Johnson, who also made it for the first time. No Bears players had made it last year and the last two to make it were pass rusher Robert Quinn and return man Jakeem Grant for the 2021 season.

Sweat has six sacks with the Bears and made 6 1/2 before coming to Chicago with Washington. He had all six Bears sacks in a stretch of four games, including a career-high 2 1/2 against the Browns Dec. 17 in a 20-17 loss. Sweat made 13 tackles for loss and his 25 quarterback hits are three from a career high.

What coach Matt Eberflus calls the "Tez effect" has been to make their pass coverage more effective by putting heat on passers. Since Sweat arrived after Week 8, the Bears have made 16 of their league-high 22 interceptions.

"He creates a pressure player from the front, and when you have that then you're able to play coverage," Bears coach Matt Eberflus said. "Then, you can vary your coverages. You can make them look different and disguise them.

"I think that's very hard on the quarterback. So when you have that pressure player from the front, and you're not bringing it from the second level (blitzing), that helps out any defense. Certainly, Tez has been wonderful to have. He's helped out the whole organization."

Sweat has 41 1/2 career sacks in his five seasons.

One player whho benefits from the Sweat effect is Johnson, who has a career-high four interceptions. Currently suffering from a shoulder injury, Johnson's status for Sunday's game is uncertain.

Johnson is graded by Pro Football Focus as the No. 1 cornerback in the league overall and in pass coverage. He came into the season with one career interception and now has five. Johnson has 10 pass defenses and his passer rating against when targeted this year has dropped from 94.6 last year to 50.9. and he's allowing 55.2% completions when targeted according to Sportradar.

Two Bears in particular were snubbed, it seems.

DJ Moore has 92 receptions, 1,300 yards and eight touchdown catches but didn't make it

The other player was linebacker T.J. Edwards. Roquan Smith made the Pro Bowl. He has 13 more tackles (158) and one more deflected pass (8) than Edwards but Edwards has two more interceptions (3), three more quarterback hits (8), one more sack (2 1/2) and three more tackles for loss (8).

NFL.com lsted Moore among the group of players who didn't make the list of 10 snubbed players but were considered.

Moore has never made the Pro Bowl but has been over 1,000 yards receiving in four of his six season.