Cornerback Tyrique Stevenson has been a quick study since the Bears took him out of Miami in the second round of the 2023 draft.
He was a presumed starter from his first days in the offseason program and training camp. He started the opener of his rookie season. He had a tackle for loss on the second snap of his pro career. And after struggling with consistency in the first half last season, he rallied in the second half, with four interceptions in the Bears’ final six games.
Now he has to do one more thing quickly to stay on a career arc toward excellence: grow up.
Stevenson, 24, has been hindered by an inner conflict not uncommon for tough-minded, talented players: The emotional edge and attitude that fuel him are also his worst enemies.
His emotions betrayed him again Sunday in a bizarre sequence that ended with Jayden Daniels’ 52-yard Hail Mary touchdown pass to Noah Brown as time expired, saddling the stunned Bears with an 18-15 loss to the Commanders. Stevenson was demonstratively gesturing to the crowd in Landover, Maryland, with his back to the line of scrimmage at the snap of the ball, then botched his assignment. He was supposed to box out Brown but instead ran inexplicably to the scrum of Bears and Commanders players inside the 5-yard line and attempted to bat the ball away. It ended up being tipped backward to an uncovered Brown in the front of the end zone for one of the most stunning finishes in Bears history.
Stevenson declined to talk to reporters immediately after the game but did apologize to Bears fans and his teammates on X. He also apologized more formally to teammates Monday at Halas Hall and talked to reporters via Zoom, as he had promised he would.
He didn’t want to divulge details of his meeting with teammates.
“But the brief message is, I apologize to the boys for letting them down,” Stevenson said. “I let the moment get too big, and it’s something that can never happen again and won’t ever happen again.”
Not that it matters, but Stevenson denied he was taunting Commanders fans when the ball was snapped.
“At the beginning of the play, I was just cheering with some Bears fans — wasn’t taunting any fans,” he said. “I was just cheering with some Bears fans, and the Washington fans reacted how they wanted to. My job was to box out [Brown]. When I went up to hit the ball, it was pretty much just to knock it down. Just trying to make a play for my team.”
Bears fans heavily criticized Stevenson on social media, with some calling for him to be disciplined. (He was penalized during the game for unnecessary roughness when he poked his fingers in the facemask of Commanders guard Sam Cosmi, his fourth roughness penalty in two seasons.)
But coach Matt Eberflus said any discipline would be internal, and he sounded satisfied with Stevenson’s apology.
“It’s really about development and making everybody better,” Eberflus said. “We’ll get to that [discipline] answer as we go through the week. He did address the team in a team meeting room [Monday]. It was a really good moment for him to do that. It showed responsibility and accountability.”
As expected, Stevenson’s teammates supported him.
“Tyrique kind of stood up and, in a way, said that what he did was unacceptable and that he’s got to be on his P’s and Q’s there, which we all appreciate,” tight end Cole Kmet said. “I think it’s really a good lesson for everybody to learn from, in terms of how to respect the game. We had examples of that throughout the game and, quite frankly, throughout the week of practice this past week, where there’s moments where maybe some guys lay off here and there. Those are the type of things that can happen, but when you do that for just a split second, it doesn’t always come back to bite you in the butt, but when it does, it hurts.
“That’s the unfortunate [part], and also the beauty of this game is that you disrespect it in a certain way and it will come to haunt you in some form or fashion. It’s a learning experience for everybody.
“Tyrique plays with a lot of passion, and we all love him for that. But there’s definitely a respect level of the game and knowing you’ve got to finish it out until those double zeros hit the clock.”
It’s not a new lesson for Stevenson, who also was hit with unnecessary-roughness penalties in each of his first two preseason games as a rookie and vowed to learn from them. Eventually, the lessons have to stick. There’s too much at stake for a talented player with Pro Bowl potential on a team with big expectations.
As for the Hail Mary fiasco overall, Eber-flus reiterated his postgame comments that it was a matter of execution. He again refused to second-guess the coaching decisions that led to the disastrous play: allowing Daniels’ 13-yard pass to wide receiver Terry McLaurin to set up the Hail Mary attempt; rushing only three linemen, with linebacker T.J. Edwards as a spy, and not calling timeout to get Stevenson’s head in the game.
“Tyrique’s got to do a better job of putting his body on [Brown] and boxing him out,” Eberflus said. “We’ve executed that play several times. We’ve just got to do a better job in that moment.”