Coach Ben Johnson said he hasn’t talked to cornerback Tyrique Stevenson in depth about last season’s Fail Mary.
Stevenson doesn’t think it’s necessary, anyway.
“There really isn’t any conversation that is needed to be had,” Stevenson said Wednesday in his first comments since last season ended. “I owned it. It was a mistake. I just happen to play a sport where my mistake is nationally televised.
“I feel like talking to me and getting through to me, they can see I already owned up to it. And I owe them guys from last year nothing but effort from myself. And they see that I am putting it in. So there’s really no conversation needed.”
Not that what Stevenson did will vanish, so long as blooper reels exist.
Crazy video I got of #Commanders vs #bears walk off pic.twitter.com/mXFkR5wOGW
— Joe Abdo (@joe_abdo) October 27, 2024
Stevenson was gesturing toward fans and had his back to the Commanders’ final snap in Week 8 last year on a play that would end with wide receiver Noah Brown catching a 52-yard Hail Mary to beat the Bears. Once Stevenson realized the play had begun, he ran and leaped for the ball rather than doing his assignment and standing in front of Brown, who caught the tipped pass.
Days after the mistake, Stevenson walked out of a walkthrough when he found out he wasn’t going to start the next game. He wound up playing almost 80% of the Bears’ defensive snaps against the Cardinals, however, because of an injury.
His gaffe came to symbolize the Bears’ agonizing slide. The Bears didn’t win again until the last game of the season, long after coach Matt Eberflus had been fired. After the season, chairman George McCaskey was asked about Stevenson’s mistake and said he had “never seen anything like that as an observer of this great game for more than 60 years.”
Stevenson’s new coaches didn’t live through that circus. They’re not asking him to relive it, either.
“I think he learned his lesson from that, and his peers have certainly talked to him about it,” Johnson said after the Bears’ second mandatory minicamp. “There really wasn’t any reason for me or the staff to piggyback on that because he’s learned from it, he’s grown from it, and what’s in the past is in the past, and we’re moving forward.”
New defensive backs coach Al Harris was more succinct in April.
“Clean slate from here on out,” Harris said.
Despite his mistake, the Bears made a conscious decision this offseason to bet on Stevenson’s athleticism. They didn’t sign or draft a logical replacement for him. Nick McCloud, their most notable free-agent signing at cornerback, allowed a perfect 158.3 passer rating on plays in which he was targeted last year. Cornerback Zah Frazier, their fifth-round pick, started only one season at UTSA and is seen as more of a developmental project.
The Bears believe defensive coordinator Dennis Allen’s press-man coverage scheme plays to Stevenson’s strengths. At 6 feet and 214 pounds, Stevenson has the physicality to disrupt receivers at the line of scrimmage. That was his biggest strength coming out of Miami before the Bears drafted him in the second round in 2023.
Stevenson has spent the offseason studying the finer points of press man. He identifies how receivers line up when he seeks clues about what they’re about to do, but he also considers the tendencies of the opposing play-caller.
“Instead of playing the man,” he said, “you play the concept.”
Stevenson has been given plenty of practice during the offseason program. Jaylon Johnson didn’t participate in team drills Tuesday and was excused for a personal reason Wednesday. Fellow cornerbacks Terell Smith and Frazier haven’t practiced all week.
“It’s mano a mano — I’m going to show you I’ve been working and I’m better than you,” Stevenson said. “I feel like that can take a lot of guessing out of the game for the corners. . . .
“I like it. It gives me room to improve on myself because if I get beat, I did something in my technique that created a flaw to allow you to win. I like that.”
Among players who played at least half of their team’s defensive downs last season, Stevenson was ranked No. 22 by Pro Football Focus in man coverage. In zone coverage, he was 59th.
“What we love about him is he’s got some length and he’s not afraid,” Johnson said. “I think those are two things that you really need to play corner, particularly the style of corner that we’re looking for — guys that’ll come up, they’ll challenge, they’ll get hands on. Press man-to-man is something that we’re going to do a healthy amount of, and we feel he fits that mold really well.”
