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Cameras Caught Bears DB Taunting Crowd Before Making Huge Mistake on Hail Mary

Ryan Phillips

Stevenson was taunting fans in the middle of the Commanders' Hail Mary attempt.
Stevenson was taunting fans in the middle of the Commanders' Hail Mary attempt. / Via Joe Abdo on X
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A bad day for the Chicago Bears may have just gotten worse.

On Sunday, the Bears suffered an 18-15 loss to the Washington Commanders as the result of a last-second 52-yard Hail Mary from Jayden Daniels. It was a major defensive miscue that led to a tipped ball that floated to an uncovered Noah Brown in the end zone.

Shortly after the Commanders' joyous celebration wrapped up at Northwest Stadium, the NFL world discovered the author of that defensive error—and more importantly why it happened.

Video from the stadium seats shows Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson taunting Commanders fans while back near the goal line preparing for the Hail Mary attempt. In the video, he is gesturing to the fans and has his back turned to the play for several seconds after the ball is snapped. He then turns around and seems surprised the action has begun. He doesn't start paying attention until Washington's receivers are near the 25-yard line.

Stevenson never recovered on the play.

His assignment was to follow Brown for the entire play, but he got lost and instead tried to break up the pass near the goal line. He actually wound up being the guy to tip the ball up so that it bounced right to Brown, who he was supposed to be covering.

And below a breakdown of what he was supposed to be doing.

Oops.

That's a terrible look from Stevenson. He wasn't even paying attention when the play began, and then failed to fulfill his assignment.

There's a good chance he's going to have a rough go of things during film sessions this week.

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Ryan Phillips
RYAN PHILLIPS

Ryan Phillips is a senior writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has worked in digital media since 2009, spending eight years at The Big Lead before joining SI in 2024. Phillips also co-hosts The Assembly Call Podcast about Indiana Hoosiers basketball and previously worked at Bleacher Report. He is a proud San Diego native and a graduate of Indiana University’s journalism program.

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