It is one of the most infamous plays in Chicago Bears history. Nobody argues it almost single-handedly ruined their 2024 season. Players won't ever admit it, but the locker room never seemed to recover from it. They had everything in hand. Caleb Williams had just led the offense to a go-ahead touchdown. All they needed was a defensive stop to win the game. The Washington Commanders drove far enough to have one last shot via Hail Mary. Everybody knows what happened next. Tyrique Stevenson had his back to the play, jawing at fans in the stands as the snap was taken. By the time he realized what was happening, his assigned man to cover, Noah Brown, had already slipped behind the secondary. Stevenson then tipped the ensuing pass right to Brown. Game over.
The media fallout was brutal. Stevenson became the target of every criticism and joke you can imagine. It was one of the dumbest plays in NFL history. People wanted him cut. It was inexcusable. The young cornerback hasn't said much about what happened in the months since. That finally changed when he sat down with teammate Kevin Byard on his Intercepted show. For the first time, Stevenson opened up about the Hail Mary, why it happened, how it affected him, and most importantly, what lessons he took from it.
It sounds like the experience humbled Tyrique Stevenson.
He'd had a reputation for being overconfident a lot since arriving in the NFL. Now, confidence is not a bad thing. Cornerbacks need that level of swagger to function in this league. However, it can be a double-edged sword. As Tyrique Stevenson said, he let the intensity of that game in Washington blind him to reality. He should've been focused on his own business, not the team's. He paid a hefty price for that reminder.
There were points over the following months where Stevenson could've lost his job. Yet to his credit, he persevered. In the past two games, he's played some of the best football of his career. Opponents have targeted him 12 times, completing only three passes for 16 yards. It feels like he's finally maturing before our eyes, and the genesis was that game last year. Best of all, he has a shot at redemption next Monday night.
