Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune answers your questions:
Why isn’t Tyrique Stevenson getting more playing time? He had some early season success, so much so that teams were going away from him. Jaylon Johnson has not been good and doesn’t even try to tackle. — @historyczar0
Johnson made a really nice play on the first snap Sunday when he read Jauan Jennings’ route and Brock Purdy’s eyes and broke up the pass, leading to T.J. Edwards’ interception return for a touchdown. Stevenson got into the game in the second half, playing 18 snaps when Johnson was rested. I asked Johnson about that after the game, and he emphatically declared that he’s 100% back from the injury that kept him on injured reserve much of the year.
Stevenson has been a little bit better this season. According to Pro Football Reference, opponents’ passer rating when targeting him is 86.3, a tick better than the 87.5 rating in 2024. Opponents have gone at Nahshon Wright with more regularity. He has produced some big plays with six interceptions but also has been the man in coverage on six touchdown passes as opposed to one for Stevenson. Wright took a poor angle on Christian McCaffrey’s 41-yard run.
There’s a decent chance we continue to see all three on the field Sunday and in the playoffs. They need to be better on the back end, but keep in mind pass defense is a combination of rush and coverage.
Johnson must be hurt. There isn’t a single doubt in my mind. And other teams know it. They’ve been targeting him far more often since his return than they did beforehand. And, as Biggs points out, Wright has been targeted a lot and was burned with regularity against the 49ers last week.
Having said that, let’s not forget the big picture. This question is off-base if for no other reason than because it’s the pass rush that is the biggest problem with this defense. If that was just average, the defensive backs would be plenty good enough for any reasonable fan to be OK with.