Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson was responsible for covering Commanders wide receiver Noah Brown on the completed game-ending Hail Mary on Sunday.
Head coach Matt Eberflus said Stevenson took accountability for his mistake and addressed the entire team a day after Jayden Daniels connected on the 52-yard walk-off TD with Brown, who caught a tipped pass in the end zone for an 18-15 win with no time left on the clock.
“I let the moment get too big and it’s something that can’t ever happen again and won’t ever again,” Stevenson said Monday of what he told teammates in the day-after meeting.
The NFL’s All-22 game film offers a vantage point that exposes the extent of the failure on the final play, which came after a 13-yard completion to Terry McLaurin that made the long fling from Daniels possible.
On the last play, Stevenson is facing the end zone and motioning toward the stands behind the Washington sideline before and after Daniels receives the snap. At that point more than 40 yards from the line of scrimmage, Stevenson sprints toward the middle of the field. Because of his pre-snap position and angle to the ball, he never reached his assignment, Brown.
“The play was, I was supposed to box out 85 (Noah Brown),” Stevenson said Monday. “Just cheering with some Bears fans, wasn’t taunting no fans. Cheering with some Bears fans. The Washington fans reacted how they want to. My job was to box out 85. I was trying to make a play on the ball, not trying to make an interception at that point in the game.”
Stevenson, a second-round draft pick in 2023, got a hand on the ball, but it was deflected over the nearest defenders and receivers to Brown standing all alone in the end zone.
“Tyrique’s got to do a good job of putting a body on 85 and boxing him out,” Eberflus said. “(Safety Kevin Byard) KB was the guy that was going to knock the ball down. We’ve got to do a better job in that moment.”
The Bears practice defense of the Hail Mary “a couple of times per week,” according to Eberflus.
Eberflus said he told the Bears the teaching moment underscores the need to remain balanced for players that thrive when displaying a high level of emotion. Any discipline for failed execution on the final play will be kept in-house, the coach said.
Stevenson said his biggest regret from Sunday will stick with him for a while.
“Just letting my teammates down in a situation that we pretty much know how to handle on any day,” he said.
–Field Level Media