Bears are giving CB Tyrique Stevenson opportunity to prove he's worth the trouble next year
The Bears never really benched cornerback Tyrique Stevenson after his ‘‘Fail Mary’’ gaffe against the Commanders, but they turned him into a platoon player.
Stevenson didn’t start the next game against the Cardinals but wound up playing 79% of the Bears’ defensive snaps because fellow cornerback Terell Smith got hurt. He then shared time with Smith in the next five games, playing 58%, 59%, 35%, 60% and 48% of the snaps.
That arrangement appeared to end last week. Stevenson played 77% of the Bears’ defensive snaps against the Vikings. On Sunday 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, a trade seems likely.
Either way, they need Stevenson to play better. He intercepted a pass against the Vikings but was complicit in the Bears allowing an 82-yard touchdown pass Sunday, the longest they have allowed this season and the longest of Lions quarterback Jared Goff’s career.
On Monday, interim coach Thomas Brown blamed ‘‘poor eyes’’ by Stevenson and safety Jonathan Owens for the coverage error that gave the Lions a 20-0 lead in the second quarter of a game they eventually would win 34-17.
Stevenson ran with speedy wide receiver Jameson Williams but expected help over the top from Owens. But Williams zoomed past Owens — whom Williams and Brown described as being flat-footed because of the play-fake — and already was behind him when he caught the pass.
Stevenson said he needed to communicate with Owens better during the 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, it was another head-scratching play from Stevenson in a season full of them. He disputed the notion of a rivalry with Williams, who flipped the ball at him on Thanksgiving Day in Detroit after Stevenson tripped him 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 to catch a Hail Mary pass as time expired in the Commanders’ victory Oct. 27. The Bears haven’t won since.
‘‘We still want to end the season with a win because we’re not the 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 ball and ended with him leaping to bat a pass instead of defending wide 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.’’