Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson and some players met with reporters virtually Monday, a day after their 52-21 loss to the Detroit Lions.

The Bears are left looking for answers after having their teeth kicked in by the Lions. Chicago’s defense had no answers for Detroit’s playmakers, and the unit sustained more injuries. Meanwhile, quarterback Caleb Williams and the offense were inconsistent once again and couldn’t sustain drives because of turnovers and penalties.

[ 5 big takeaways from Chicago Bears’ blowout loss to the Detroit Lions ]

The Bears will try to reverse their fortunes as they get ready this week to host the Dallas Cowboys at Soldier Field on Sunday afternoon. Here are three of the most interesting things the Bears said Monday.

On Jaylon Johnson’s and others’ injuries

Johnson told reporters that the Bears are still gathering information on the severity of cornerback Jaylon Johnson’s groin injury that he suffered in the second quarter of Sunday’s game. Ben did say that it was a new injury and that the team should have more information in the coming days.

ESPN first reported earlier Monday that Jaylon was out indefinitely and the Bears would need to evaluate whether the star cornerback would need surgery. Jordan Schultz later reported that Jaylon would likely be out for the remainder of the season because the injury would require surgery.

During an interview with 670 The Score on Monday, Jaylon called the injury complex and confirmed that he originally tore the adductor off his pelvic bone. The new injury is on the other side. He also said he didn’t feel rushed to return by the Bears.

“I felt comfortable playing,” Jaylon said. “If I didn’t feel comfortable, I wouldn’t have played no matter what anybody was saying.”

Jaylon had missed all of training camp and the season-opener against the Minnesota Vikings with a calf and groin injury. He played in his first game Sunday and made a jumping pass breakup that ended with Jaylon injured, lying on the field before he walked off and went to the locker room.

Regardless, losing Jaylon for any length of time will be a blow to an already injured secondary.

“He’s a good player,” Ben said. “He’s a Pro Bowl player for a reason, and he’s a guy that you want out there on the field for you, particularly when you give up that many passing yards.”

Ben also said linebacker T.J. Edwards (hamstring) and cornerback Kyler Gordon (hamstring) were both considered week-to-week. Edwards left Sunday’s game after missing the season-opener, while Gordon has missed the first two games of the season.

On Caleb Williams’ offensive improvement

Although the offense showed some of the same inconsistencies Sunday that it had in its opener against the Vikings, Johnson said he saw significant growth, primarily from Williams.

The numbers for Williams looked relatively the same as Week 1. Williams threw for 210 yards and a touchdown and completed 60% of his passes against Minnesota. Against Detroit, Williams threw for 207 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, completing 63.3% of his pass attempts.

But Johnson saw a major improvement in the way Williams ran the offense and progressed after the snap.

“It’s not perfect yet,” Johnson said. “There’s still a number of plays where our eyes aren’t quite in the right position or we’re holding onto the ball just a tick longer than what we’re coaching. But I did see tremendous growth in terms of going through the progression. There were a few times there where we had to get to number three or four in the read, and he was trusting his feet and his footwork and was able to get there. I did think he got better from Week 1 to Week 2.”

Now the Bears offense will try to continue that growth as a unit against the Cowboys on Sunday. Chicago has shown it can put together scoring drives. The Bears started both of their first two games by scoring on their opening possession, something they failed to do all of last season.

But pre-snap penalties and turnovers have stopped the offense from building off those strong starts. That will be a major focus during this week’s practice ahead of Sunday’s game as the Bears know what they need to do.

“Just play clean,” running back D’Andre Swift said. “There will be flashes. Early on in that game, they go down and score, and we respond right away. Those are the type of things that, if we’re gonna be the type of team we know we can be, we have to do that each and every drive. We can’t shoot ourselves in the foot offensively, going against a team like that. If it’s going to be a shootout, we need to be right with that, shooting our own offense as well. With the penalties and things like that kind of have to stop. And that’s everybody. That’s a collective effort.”

On fixing the defense, pass rush

While Johnson tries to build consistency on the offensive side of the ball, he’ll also look for solutions after not much went right defensively Sunday. The Bears’ defense gave up 52 points in a game for the first time since 2014 and allowed Detroit to score on six straight possessions.

Johnson remained confident in the defense despite Sunday’s showing. He saw how disruptive it can be during training camp and said it can get back to the level of play.

“We brought in [defensive coordinator] Dennis Allen for a reason; he does a phenomenal job coaching it to not only the coaches but the players,” Johnson said. “I got a lot of faith and confidence that the experience we have on that side of the ball is gonna shine through for us, and we’ll get this thing back cranking the way we want it to go.”

A major fix will be creating any sort of pass rush. Chicago finished without a sack Sunday and had four quarterback hits as Lions quarterback Jared Goff had plenty of time Sunday to let plays develop and get the ball to his playmakers.

Johnson said the Bears will need to find ways to pressure Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, whether that’s getting more out of their four rushers or even sending more. Defensive tackle Grady Jarrett added that the Bears need to do a better job adjusting from a run defense to a pass and take their shots at getting the quarterback sooner.

Getting more out of top pass rusher Montez Sweat will be a major step in the right direction. Sweat has one quarterback hit and no sacks through two games. He had a sack in Sunday’s game, but it was nullified due to offsetting penalties.

Johnson wants Sweat to capitalize more on the rare one-on-one matchups he gets. But Johnson said improving the pass rush is more of a collective responsibility and that Sweat has played well so far.

“He’s doing some really good things for us, even if it’s not showing up on the stat sheet quite yet in terms of getting close to the quarterback in the passing game,” Johnson said. “And he is doing a nice job in the run game as well.”