LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) — Chicago Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson hopes to be ready for the season opener against the Minnesota Vikings at Soldier Field on Monday night.
He just wasn't ready to make any promises after missing all of training camp because of a groin injury he suffered while working out in the summer.
“I’m doing everything I can to play,” he said in his first comments since last spring. “I know I had a good workout this morning, so I’m feeling good, probably the best I felt all offseason — well, training camp, per se — but just trying to do everything I can to be back.”
Johnson said he was injured in “a freak accident” while working with some receivers in Las Vegas, and he knew immediately it was serious. He expected to be cleared for practice on Tuesday, when the Bears held more of a walkthrough. Whether he'll play against Minnesota and an offense featuring one of the NFL's best receivers in Justin Jefferson largely hinges on how he responds this week.
“Just depends on where my body’s at,” he said. “Because again, I’ve been out for six weeks, so hopefully my body responds fairly quickly and I can feel good. And with the staff, the training staff, (we'll) figure out what’s the best plan.”
Coach Ben Johnson expressed concern that Johnson's conditioning could be an issue, even if he is cleared to play. He also said the Bears want to do their best to make sure their star cornerback doesn't reinjure himself.
“I know he’s feeling significantly better than obviously he was from the start,” Ben Johnson said. “We’ll see what he looks like moving around and hopefully take it from there. I know he’s excited to get back out with his teammates here soon.”
Jaylon Johnson acknowledged he needs practice reps.
“I like to say I can go out there and play,” he said. “But I mean, it’s definitely hard too. I feel like if we had a game today, it wouldn’t be a thing. But I think really this week will be important for me to get the pads back on, get practices under my belt, game speed, moving around, covering guys, communicating. I think that all will help me. But again, there’s not too much you can replicate in the game.”
The Bears made some big moves coming off a 5-12 season, most notably hiring Ben Johnson and remaking their offensive line. They believe they're poised to be more competitive, and they won't have to wait long to find out how they stack up against the top teams in the NFC North. Their first two opponents were a combined 29-5 last year, with a trip to Detroit following the opener against the Vikings.
Jaylon Johnson, beginning his sixth season, made the Pro Bowl the past two years. He has six of his seven career interceptions in that span.
With the Bears expected to play more man-to-man coverage, Johnson figures to spend more time shadowing the opposing team's No. 1 receiver. Jefferson, a two-time All-Pro, would obviously pose a huge challenge even if Johnson was completely healthy.
As for whether he's ready to shadow receivers?
“For this game, it’s hard to say,” Johnson said. “I feel like it would be a situation where we had to figure out what that game plan looks like. But, I mean, as far as what I’ve been doing, I know I’ve been putting a lot of work outside the facility as well, so I’m confident in that. But again, that would be something I’ll feel more so in the game, in that situation.”
Johnson agreed to a four-year, $76 million contract extension in March 2004. Several cornerbacks have since signed more lucrative deals. But Johnson insisted he wasn't holding out and that his absence was strictly injury-related.
“You know me better than that. I never held out,” he said. “I haven’t ever done any of that. So I mean, for me, again, for the media, it’s a good play as far as the contract and the timing and things, but I’m not that type of cat.”
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FILE - Chicago Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson (1) walks off the field after an NFL football game against the Minnesota Vikings, Dec. 16, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr, file)
HAVANA (AP) — Cuban soldiers wearing white gloves marched out of a plane on Thursday carrying urns with the remains of the 32 Cuban officers killed during a stunning U.S. attack on Venezuela as trumpets and drums played solemnly at Havana's airport.
Nearby, thousands of Cubans lined one of Havana’s most iconic streets to await the bodies of colonels, lieutenants, majors and captains as the island remained under threat by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
The soldiers' shoes clacked as they marched stiff-legged into the headquarters of the Ministry of the Armed Forces, next to Revolution Square, with the urns and placed them on a long table next to the pictures of those killed so people could pay their respects.
Thursday’s mass funeral was only one of a handful that the Cuban government has organized in almost half a century.
Hours earlier, state television showed images of more than a dozen wounded people described as “combatants” accompanied by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez arriving Wednesday night from Venezuela. Some were in wheelchairs.
Those injured and the remains of those killed arrived as tensions grow between Cuba and the U.S., with Trump recently demanding that the Caribbean country make a deal with him before it is “too late.” He did not explain what kind of deal.
Trump also has said that Cuba will no longer live off Venezuela's money and oil. Experts warn that the abrupt end of oil shipments could be catastrophic for Cuba, which is already struggling with serious blackouts and a crumbling power grid.
Officials unfurled a massive flag at Havana's airport as President Miguel Díaz-Canel, clad in military garb as commander of Cuba's Armed Forces, stood silent next to former President Raúl Castro, with what appeared to be the relatives of those killed looking on nearby.
Cuban Interior Minister Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casa said Venezuela was not a distant land for those killed, but a “natural extension of their homeland.”
“The enemy speaks to an audience of high-precision operations, of troops, of elites, of supremacy,” Álvarez said in apparent reference to the U.S. “We, on the other hand, speak of faces, of families who have lost a father, a son, a husband, a brother.”
Álvarez called those slain “heroes,” saying that they were an example of honor and “a lesson for those who waver.”
“We reaffirm that if this painful chapter of history has demonstrated anything, it is that imperialism may possess more sophisticated weapons; it may have immense material wealth; it may buy the minds of the wavering; but there is one thing it will never be able to buy: the dignity of the Cuban people,” he said.
Thousands of Cubans lined a street where motorcycles and military vehicles thundered by with the remains of those killed.
“They are people willing to defend their principles and values, and we must pay tribute to them,” said Carmen Gómez, a 58-year-old industrial designer, adding that she hopes no one invades given the ongoing threats.
When asked why she showed up despite the difficulties Cubans face, Gómez replied, “It’s because of the sense of patriotism that Cubans have, and that will always unite us.”
Cuba recently released the names and ranks of 32 military personnel — ranging in age from 26 to 60 — who were part of the security detail of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during the raid on his residence on January 3. They included members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior, the island’s two security agencies.
Cuban and Venezuelan authorities have said that the uniformed personnel were part of protection agreements between the two countries.
A demonstration was planned for Friday across from the U.S. Embassy in an open-air forum known as the Anti-Imperialist Tribune. Officials have said they expect the demonstration to be massive.
“People are upset and hurt. There’s a lot of talk on social media; but many do believe that the dead are martyrs” of a historic struggle against the United States, analyst and former diplomat Carlos Alzugaray told The Associated Press.
In October 1976, then-President Fidel Castro led a massive demonstration to bid farewell to the 73 people killed in the bombing of a Cubana de Aviación civilian flight financed by anti-revolutionary leaders in the U.S. Most of the victims were Cuban athletes.
In December 1989, officials organized “Operation Tribute” to honor the more than 2,000 Cuban combatants who died in Angola during Cuba’s participation in the war that defeated the South African army and ended the apartheid system. In October 1997, memorial services were held following the arrival of the remains of guerrilla commander Ernesto “Che” Guevara and six of his comrades, who died in 1967.
The latest mass burial is critical to honor those slain, said José Luis Piñeiro, a 60-year-old doctor who lived four years in Venezuela.
“I don’t think Trump is crazy enough to come and enter a country like this, ours, and if he does, he’s going to have to take an aspirin or some painkiller to avoid the headache he’s going to get,” Piñeiro said. “These were 32 heroes who fought him. Can you imagine an entire nation? He’s going to lose.”
A day before the remains of those killed arrived in Cuba, the U.S. announced $3 million in additional aid to help the island recover from the catastrophic Hurricane Melissa.
The first flight took off on Wednesday, and a second flight was scheduled for Friday. A commercial vessel also will deliver food and other supplies.
Jeremy Lewin, the State Department official in charge of foreign assistance, said the U.S. was working with Cuba’s Catholic Church to distribute aid.
“There’s nothing political about cans of tuna and rice and beans and pasta,” he said Thursday, warning that the Cuban government should not intervene or divert supplies. “We will be watching, and we will hold them accountable.”
Lewin said he saw no contradiction between cutting off Venezuelan oil and offering aid, saying that “the Cuban regime was taking illegitimate profits from the narco-terrorists.”
He said the U.S. hopes that delivering aid via the Catholic Church will be part of a new and broader push to deliver assistance directly to the Cuban people.
“Ultimately, the regime has to make a choice," Lewin said. “Step down or better provide towards people.”
Lewin added that “if there was no regime,” the U.S. would provide “billions and billions of dollars” in assistance, as well as investment and development: “That’s what lies on the other side of the regime for the Cuban people.”
The announcement riled Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez.
“The U.S. government is exploiting what appears to be a humanitarian gesture for opportunistic and politically manipulative purposes,” he said in a statement. “As a matter of principle, Cuba does not oppose assistance from governments or organizations, provided it benefits the people and the needs of those affected are not used for political gain under the guise of humanitarian aid.”
Coto contributed from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
Military members pay their last respects to Cuban officers who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, at the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces where the urns containing the remains are displayed during a ceremony in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
A motorcade transports urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, through Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Soldiers carry urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, at the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Adalberto Roque /Pool Photo via AP)
A motorcade transports urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, through Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
A motorcade transports urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, through Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
People line the streets of Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, to watch the motorcade carrying urns containing the remains of Cuban officers killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Workers fly the Cuban flag at half-staff at the Anti-Imperialist Tribune near the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in memory of Cubans who died two days before in Caracas, Venezuela during the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by U.S. forces. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
