Rookie Cornerback Continues to Impress

Tracking the Bears at Camp: New challenges ahead for rookie cornerback Tyrique Stevenson.

For a rookie, Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson seems to be learning at an exponential rate.

The second-round pick had more plays in Saturday's preseason game than anyone else on their roster with 56, and he's getting some reps in practices against DJ Moore. So that can only sharpen his abilities. 

Now, facing the Indianapolis Colts, his knowledge of the game could increase even more while facing new receivers like Michael Pittman, the 6-foot-4, 223-pound fourth-year pass catcher.

"He's wired that way and he's a really good competitor, which I love," Bears coach Matt Eberflus said of Stevenson. "We knew he was going to be a good tackler and a physical corner because you could see that on tape in the evaluation."

Eberflus had expressed this notion several times since draft day and when Stevenson finally got the chance to play in a live game he made some mistakes, but by and large was very effective. He led the Bears with seven tackles and broke up a pass.

Stevenson had a pass breakup that was actually a possible interception in the game. He continued being around the ball Monday at practice but dropped an interception.

"He's just going to continue to grow," Eberflus said. "This is going to be a big week for him because he's going to be able to guard different guys and compete against those guys, and I think he'll be able to see how he can adjust his skillset to fit the player he's guarding.

"So it's going to be fun."

Moore Success

DJ Moore came off his big touchdown catch on a short pass and long run with a few more coventional catches during Monday's non-padded practice at the Walter Payton Center. Justin Fields found him at the start of two different play sets for gains, including one over the middle for a TD. None of the passes were screen passes like Moore scored on in Saturday's game, but deeper routes. The passing game wasn't as successful near the goal line during two-minute drill as the first-team defense stopped the offense down close.

"It's a situation where we were all the way down into the red area," Ebeflus said. "We were trying to get a touchdown there and I thought the defense executed well there in those moments. But the operation was good. Operation was clean, and we had our opportunities."

Fields also hit Darnell Mooney on a deep ball for a TD against Kyler Gordon near the start of practice.

Earlier, P.J. Walker hit Velus Jones Jr. after a sharp in-cut at the goal line against two defenders, but Walker also was picked off along the sidelines by Kindle Vildor while trying a pass the scramble drill.

The defense had one other brief triumph when Greg Stroman Jr. stripped the ball from Nsimba Webster after a catch but Roschon Johnson wrestled it away at the bottom of the pile.

Long Time Coming

Guard Nate Davis appears ready to resume practices but couldn't say he'd been given the go-ahead for anything more than the stretching and invidual work early.

Being gone for a few weeks in training camp shouldn't be the problem it might with other free agents in their first seasons because the offense for linemen is very similar to what the Titans ran last year.

"I think they got me ready pretty well," Davis said. "I think just being part of that system, and then there's a lot of carryover from that system to this system in Chicago, that suits me very well. So yeah, I think it's a great carryover, and it's the reason why I'm here."

Roll Call

With a day off again Tuesday as player travel to Indianapolis, injured Bears will have had one practice in three days since the game before playing again so it will be interesting to see who is healthy by Wednesday to practice. Not many players from the long injured list had returned Monday.

Guard Nate Davis did get on the field and go through light individual work but not the scrimmage work.

Still unavailable for practice were defensive end DeMarcus Walker, linebacker Tremaine Edmunds, cornerback Terell Smith, wide receiver Chase Claypool, center/guard Lucas Patrick, safety Jaquan Brisker, cornerback Josh Blackwell, linebacker Dylan Cole.

New to the absentee list was running back Trestan Ebner.

Last Dance

The Bears had their final practice before Halas Hall fans this training camp without the fans, because it was forced indoors due to heavy rain. 

Special groups were slated to attend the practice but there isn't room in Walter Payton Center for this. 

Their two practices in Indy this week on Wednesday and Thursday are set to be open to fans but tickets are gone already for those according to the Colts website.

When they practice again it will be closed to everyone except the media for about the first 10-15 minutes each day for the rest of the season. 

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