As expected, Bears downgrade CB Jaylon Johnson from questionable to out for Vikings game

Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson has been progressing in his recovery from core muscle surgery and returned to practice Friday, but he will not play Sunday at the Vikings.

Johnson still is on injured reserve, and coming back this quickly seemed highly unlikely, but the team listed him as questionable on its injury report Friday.

He is in his 21-day practice window, and the Bears have to put him back on the active roster or declare him out for the season by the week leading up to their Dec. 7 game at the Packers. The Bears could activate him from IR at that point even if he’s not ready to play and simply make him inactive on game days in the meantime.

Johnson has played just one game this season. He missed training camp and the season opener with a groin injury, returned Week 2 against the Lions and suffered a separate injury.

It’s been tough for the Bears to weather the absence of their best cornerback. Johnson made the Pro Bowl each of the last two seasons while accumulating six interceptions, 18 pass break-ups and two forced fumbles. Opponents often avoid throwing toward him in the first place.

The Bears’ defense, which has struggled and has allowed 27.4 points per game, ranking 28th in the NFL, is waiting on nickel cornerback Kyler Gordon and linebacker T.J. Edwards as well. Edwards has missed four games because of a hamstring injury and is out Sunday, too, and Gordon (also a hamstring) is eligible to come off IR next week against the Steelers.

“We could potentially have some reinforcements coming,” coach Ben Johnson said Friday. “Those are three guys, going into the season, that we had a lot of high hopes for… I certainly have a tremendous amount of respect for all three of those guys.”