Tyrique Stevenson's latest lesson learned needs to stick

Cornerback Tyrique Stevenson has been a quick study since the Bears took him in the second-round of the 2023 draft.

He was a presumed starter from his first day in the offseason program and training camp. He started the season opener of his rookie season. He had a tackle for loss on the second snap of his NFL career. After struggling with consistency in the first half of his rookie season, he rallied in the second half, with four interceptions in the final six games.

Now he has to do one more thing quickly to stay on a career arc toward excellence — grow up.

The 24-year-old Stevenson is battling an inner conflict not uncommon for tough-minded, talented players like himself — the emotional edge and attitude that fuels him is also his own worst enemy.

Stevenson’s emotions betrayed him again Sunday in a bizarre sequence on Jayden Daniels’ 52-yard Hail Mary touchdown pass to Noah Brown as time expired to saddle the stunned Bears with an 18-15 loss to the Commanders on Sunday at Northwest Stadium.

Stevenson was demonstratively gesturing to the crowd with his back to the line of scrimmage at the snap of the ball, then botched his assignment on the play. He was supposed to box out Brown, but inexplicably ran 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 backwards to an uncovered Brown behind the scrum in the front of the end zone for one of the most stunning finishes to a game in Bears franchise history.

Stevenson declined to talk to reporters after the game, but did apologize to Bears fans and his teammates on Twitter following the game. He apologized more formally to teammates Monday at Halas Hall, and talked to reporters via Zoom as he had promised he would.

Stevenson did not 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,” Stevenson 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.”

Stevenson was heavily criticized by Bears fans on social media, with calls for him to be disciplined for his costly lack of discipline. (He earlier was penalized for unnecessary roughness when he poked his fingers in the facemask of Commanders guard Sam Cosmi — his fourth roughness penalty in two seasons with the Bears).

But coach Matt Eberflus said any discipline would be internal and 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 Ps and Qs 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 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 I 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. He had unnecessary roughness penalties in each of his first two preseason games as a rookie and vowed to learn from it. Eventually, it’s a lesson that’s going to 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 itself, Eberflus reiterated his post-game comments that it was a matter of execution and did not second-guess coaching decisions that led to the disastrous play — allowing Daniels’ 13-yard pass to McLaurin to set up the Hail Mary attempt; rushing only three linemen, with linebacker T.J. Edwards as a spy; not calling time out 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.”