Johnson, who was appointed a successor to Phil Parkinson in December, has so far taken charge of 31 games for the Black Cats, 17 of which he has won.
A 13-game unbeaten run starting from early February put Sunderland well in the race to secure automatic promotion at the end of the season, but that prospect has been fading rapidly.
Elliott feels that given the performance level of the team throughout the season, a playoff spot feels just about right for the League One giants.
“If we move away from results this week though and evaluate the season as a whole, a playoff spot is probably all the team deserves if we are totally honest”, Elliott wrote in his column for the Sunderland Echo.
“There was a mountain to climb for Johnson when he first came in and he actually had given himself a realistic shot to reach the summit which is a credit to him.”
Elliott however feels that in order to give the team a real chance of going through from the playoffs, the manager will need to ensure improvement in form over the last few weeks.
“I do feel he needs to have a real think about things over the next few weeks as if the team continue in this form then Sunderland won’t be feared going into the playoffs.”
Johnson will be hoping he can inspire Sunderland to victory in the playoffs and a return to the Championship.
