Bears coach Matt Eberflus refused to say Wednesday whether cornerback Tyrique Stevenson would start Sunday against the Cardinals after he committed a blunder against the Commanders that turned into national news — and a converted Hail Mary.
Stevenson had his back to the snap when Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels took the snap and ran around for almost 13 seconds before heaving a Hail Mary toward the end zone. Stevenson sprinted toward the middle of the end zone from the back right flank where he had been gesturing toward fans. Rather than box out receiver Noah Brown, who was positioned behind a scrum of players to await a tipped pass, the Bears cornerback leaped for the ball.
The pass was tipped and landed in Brown’s hands for a 52-yard touchdown. The Commanders won 18-15, the first time since at least the 1970 AFL-NFL merger that the Bears had given up a touchdown at the gun.
Speaking Wednesday, Eberflus said that he’d met with Stevenson as well as the team captains earlier in the week. He refused to say whether he would bench Stevenson, but went out of his way to say that the cornerback had helped the team in the year-and-a-half since the Bears made him a second-round draft pick.
“The consequences for things are we lost the game,” he said. “It’s important that we focus on Arizona. … That’s my job as the head coach to get this group to move onto the preparation for Arizona.”
Stevenson apologized on social media Sunday night, to his teammates in a Monday morning meeting and in public comments Monday afternoon. He said he was prepared for whatever discipline the Bears decided to give him this week.
Eberflus said Monday that discipline would be internal. He downplayed coaching decisions made leading up to the Hail Mary, including why he didn’t defend a 13-yard out route to Terry McLaurin on the penultimate play of the drive and why he didn’t take a timeout before the final heave.
In the days since, multiple captains — including cornerback Jaylon Johnson, receiver DJ Moore and linebacker T.J. Edwards — either implied or said outright they would have done something different strategically toward the end of the game.
The Bears’ stunning Hail Mary loss to the Commanders — and Eberflus’ at times confounding responses to questions about it — are familiar red flags to Bears fans who witnessed the demise of Marc Trestman and Matt Nagy. But there is one significant difference.
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