The Bears never really benched Tyrique Stevenson after his Fail Mary gaffe, but they turned him into a platoon player.
The cornerback didn’t start the next game against the Cardinals but wound up appearing in 79% of the Bears’ snaps because Terell Smith got hurt. He shared time with the fellow second-year player, appearing in 58%, 59%, 35%, 60% and 48% of the Bears’ snaps over the next five games.
That arrangement appeared to end last week. He played 77% of the Bears’ defensive downs Monday in Minnesota. Six days later against the Lions, he played every down for the first time since Week 5.
The Bears are giving Stevenson every chance to atone for his Week 7 mistake — or are showcasing him to potential trade partners this offseason. If he can’t prove to the Bears he’s worth the trouble, the latter scenario seems likely.
Either way, though, they need him to play better. He intercepted a pass against the Vikings but Sunday was complicit in the Bears giving up an 82-yard touchdown pass that qualified as the longest the Bears have allowed this season and the longest of Lions quarterback Jared Goff’s career. Monday, interim head coach Thomas Brown blamed “poor eyes” by both Stevenson and safety Jonathan Owens for the coverage error that gave the Lions a 20-0 lead in a game they’d eventually win 34-17.
Stevenson ran with speedy receiver Jameson Williams but expected help over the top from Owens. The receiver zoomed past Owens — whom both Williams and Brown described as being flat footed because of the play fake— and was already behind him when he caught the heave.
Stevenson said he needed to communicate with Owens better during the second-quarter play-action touchdown.
“Gotta realize that he’s pushing down the field,” Stevenson told the Sun-Times on Monday. “Could do a better job at making sure I stay on top of him, looking at him, and give my safety a heads-up call that the post is actually moving toward him. But definitely gotta keep my eyes in the right place and realize that he’s running faster than you expect.”
Even if Owens was probably more to blame, Sunday marked another head-scratching play from Stevenson in a season full of them. Stevenson disputed the notion of a rivalry with Williams, who flipped the ball at him in their first matchup after being tripped by the Bears receiver on the sideline. Williams was flagged and Stevenson was fined almost $20,000.
“They’re all regular receivers, just like I’m a regular CB to them,” he said. “They don’t feel like I’m special and I don’t feel like I’m special. They line up and run routes just like any other receiver in the league. The name don’t mean nothing. You just have to come out and show who you are.”
Stevenson famously allowed the man he was supposed to cover catch a Hail Mary as time expired in a Commanders win on Oct. 27. The Bears haven’t won since.
“We still want to end the season with a win, because we’re not a team that’s pretty much been displayed with some of the incidents and some of the games that we’ve been having,” Stevenson said. “Definitely want to get out with a win before the season ends just to at least have the guys and everybody feel like our hard work is actually paying off.”
The precipitating “incident,” of course, was Stevenson’s gaffe, which began with him gesturing toward fans while the Commanders were snapping the football and ended with him leaping to a bat a pass instead of standing in front of receiver Noah Brown, who caught the tipped pass for a 52-yard touchdown.
Stevenson said his desire to snap the losing streak isn’t rooted in the fact that his mistake started it.
“I feel like everybody is pushing for the same thing,” he said. “To put a W in the win column and move forward.”