Bear Digest

Admission and Apology for Bears Teammates from Tyrique Stevenson

The Bears cornerback on Monday offered up an apology to the team for not being fully involved in the game-deciding Hail Mary pass at the start and vowed to do better.

Gene Chamberlain

The ball winds up in the hands of Noah Brown for the game-winning TD on a Hail Mary pass Sunday in the Bears' 18-15 loss.
The ball winds up in the hands of Noah Brown for the game-winning TD on a Hail Mary pass Sunday in the Bears' 18-15 loss. / Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
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Tyrique Stevenson continued apologizing on Monday for his role in the Hail Mary pass that defeated the Bears Sunday.

It came in via social media Sunday night but on Monday it was in the form of a press conference.

“So I would say the only regret I have from yesterday is just letting this team down from working hard and coming back and putting ourselves in the ‘W’ column, “ Stevenson said. “You know, just for me to be out of place and, you know, do something that’s out of character for me and cost us the loss.”

Stevenson was the player who actually batted the ball backward toward Washington receiver Noah Brown, who was alone in back of the end zone for the catch and game-winning touchdown in an 18-15 Commanders win.

On the play, Stevenson’s assignment wasn’t going after the ball, but was Brown.

“Tyrique's gotta do a good job of putting his body on 85 (Brown) and boxing him out,” coach Matt Eberflus said. “We know he's gotta do a good job of that. KB (Kevin Byard) was the guy that was gonna knock the ball down.

“We've gotta do a good job executing in those critical moments. We've executed that play several times. We've just gotta do a better job in that moment.” 

At the time the play started, Stevenson was hollering with Bears fans and then realized the play was going, before rushing to get back into it and doing the wrong assignment. The moment was caught on a video shown widely on social media Sunday night.

“The play was I was supposed to box out 85 (Brown),” Stevenson said. “At the beginning of the play I was cheering on, just cheering with some Bears fans, wasn’t taunting no fans.”

The video posted had suggested Stevenson was hollering at Commanders fans and taunting them.

“I was just cheering with some Bears fans and the Washington fans reacted how they wanted to,” Stevenson said. “My goal, my job was to box out 85. You know, when I went up to hit the ball it was pretty much just to knock it down. Ain’t no interceptions, especially in a close game like that, so just trying to make a play for my team.

“It easily could have went, ‘oh Tyrique, good pass knockdown’ and we’re not in the situation we’re in right now.”

It didn’t, though, and the winning streak ended for the Bears at three because the ball wound up in Brown’s hands after Stevenson hit it to a player he was supposed to be guarding or boxing out from the play.

Stevenson knows he’s getting torched on social media and elsewhere.

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ANALYSIS: EVEN WILE E. COYOTE COULDN'T HAVE BLOWN A GAME LIKE THE BEARS DID

“I can’t worry about it, honestly,” Stevenson said. “My focus is on this building and how the people in this building feel. 

“I understand there’s anger. I understand somebody’s ticked. I understand the things that go on outside of the building that could possibly affect how somebody feels and all that. But to be honest I’m going to worry about the opinion of the building and if these guys got my back and that’s how I’m moving forward.”

Stevenson didn't want to detail exactly what he said in private to the team when he apologized.

"But the brief message is I apologize to the boys for letting them down. I let the moment get too big and it's something that can never happen again and won't ever happen again," Stevenson said.

The apology he had to the team apparently went across well enough. Byard likened the situation to treating Stevenson like a parent would with a child who did something wrong.

 “Like I said, it’s life,” Byard said. “If any of you have any children or anything like that, if your  children do something that you’re disappointed in or you don’t like, does not mean that it’s not your child anymore. You still love them. You still love on them.

“You can chastise them, you can hold them accountable, but you still love them at the end of the day and Tyrique is our brother. He’s my brother and I will continue to love on him and support him. Like I said, I know it’s going to be a lesson learned for him. I believe that he’ll learn from this lesson. He addressed the team without anybody asking and kind of said his piece and said what he needed to say and I thought it was a great message just apologizing and saying that he wasn’t locked in and thing like that. That just shows proof right there within himself. That’s all you can hope for in a situation like that and we’ll continue to support him.”

Besides the final play, Stevenson also had allowed a 61-yard completion to Terry McLaurin and committed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after another play.

Matt Eberflus wouldn't say Stevenson is being punished in any way but said such things are usually kept internal. He noted Stevenson's reputation for playing with a great deal of emotion.

"I talk to the players all the time about it. It's great to have passion and I think it's great to have that great enthusiasm for the game, but it also comes to a point where your emotions go over the top and you lose focus," Eberflus said. "You've gotta be able to have that balance if you're that type of player that plays with great intensity, like Tyrique does, to be able to have that so it doesn't go over the top and you lose your focus and your concentration. And that's for anybody."

Twitter: BearsOnSI

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.