Tyrique Stevenson committed a football crime, and now he’s doing the football time.
The Chicago Bears cornerback is reportedly out of the starting lineup Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals, a one-week demotion he received as punishment for the completely boneheaded move he made during the team’s Week 8 loss to the Washington Commanders.
Commanders QB Jayden Daniels made a massive Hail Mary throw in the closing seconds of last week’s contentious contest between the Commanders and Bears. While Daniels was keeping the play alive for 13 seconds before making that massive throw, Stevenson was on the other side of the field, taunting the crowd and not paying attention to what was going on. That turned out to be incredibly costly, as the Hail Mary pass was successfully caught and the Commanders won 18-15.
Stevenson, who has started every Bears game he’s played, apologized the following day.
Matt Eberflus said Tyrique Stevenson was the player who was supposed to defend Noah Brown on the Hail Mary, and he apologized to the Bears this morning: “It was a really good moment for him to be able to do that, show responsibility and accountability.”
— Chris Emma (@CEmma670) October 28, 2024
But the damage was done. Now Stevenson won’t be in the starting lineup against the Cardinals, though NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport said he will be active and is expected to sub in with CB Terell Smith