(670 The Score) Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson apologized to his team in a meeting Monday morning for his lack of focus on the Commanders' game-winning Hail Mary touchdown Sunday, saying he'll grow from his personal lapse in judgment.
When the ball was snapped with two seconds remaining, Stevenson had his back to the line of scrimmage and was instead waving his hands at the crowd, and he didn't immediately track receivers to the area where the heave would come down. Stevenson recovered and then leapt to tip the pass as it descended just in front of the goal line, but the deflection went directly to Commanders receiver Noah Brown, who was all alone in the end zone. Stevenson's assignment on the play was to cover Brown, not leap to deflect the Hail Mary.
The 24-year-old Stevenson came under great scrutiny for his antics in the aftermath of the crushing loss. While acknowledging that Stevenson made a mistake, many Bears teammates have since come to his defense. On Tuesday afternoon, veteran linebacker T.J. Edwards joined those backing Stevenson.
“We need him,” Edwards told the Bernstein & Harris Show. “Like, just from a social media perspective, people just think he’s some lollygag guy. That’s not who he is. Like, could he have been better on that play? Absolutely. Has he told us that he needs to be better and it won’t happen again? Absolutely. And I believe him, because I know that’s the type of guy who he is.
“I’m not going to try to put someone down, especially when it’s a guy that we need to play well for this team. He’s a huge part of what we do, and I think he’s truly going to learn from every single thing that happened throughout that game.
“He’ll respond the right way, because that’s the kind of guy that he is.”
The Bears (4-3) will visit the Arizona Cardinals (4-4) on Sunday, with kickoff set for 3:05 p.m. CT from State Farm Stadium.