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Admission and apology to Bears teammates of Tyrique Stevenson

Posted on by Pranco
Admission and apology to Bears teammates of Tyrique Stevenson

Tyrique Stevenson continued to apologize Monday for his role in the Hail Mary pass defeat of the Bears Sunday.

It arrived on social media on Sunday evening, but on Monday it was in the form of a press conference.

“So I would say the only regret I have from yesterday is that I let this team down by working hard and coming back and putting ourselves in the ‘W’ column,” Stevenson said. “You know, just me being out of place and, you know, doing something that’s out of character and costing us the loss.”

Stevenson was the player who actually backhanded the ball toward Washington receiver Noah Brown, who stood alone in the back of the end zone for the catch and game-winning touchdown in an 18-15 Commanders win.

During the play, Stevenson’s assignment was not to go after the ball, but to go after Brown.

“Tyrique has to do a good job of putting his body on 85 (Brown) and boxing him out,” coach Matt Eberflus said. ‘We know he has to do that well. KB (Kevin Byard) was the guy who would knock the ball down.

“We have to do a good job at those critical moments. We performed that play several times. At that point we just have to do better.”

As the play started, Stevenson was yelling with Bears fans and then realized the play was continuing, before rushing to get back in and executing the wrong assignment. The moment was captured on a video that was widely shown on social media on Sunday evening.

“The play was I had to take out 85 (Brown),” Stevenson said. “At the beginning of the play I was cheering, just cheering with some Bears fans, I wasn’t taunting any fans.”

The video posted suggested Stevenson was shouting at Commanders fans and taunting them.

“I was just cheering with some Bears fans and the Washington fans reacted however they wanted,” Stevenson said. “My goal, my task was to box out 85. You know, when I went up to hit the ball, it was pretty much just to knock it down. There are no interceptions, especially in such a close game, so I’m just trying to make a play for my team.

“It could easily have gone ‘oh Tyrique, good pass knockdown’ and we’re not in the situation we’re in now.”

However, that didn’t happen, and the winning streak ended for the Bears at three, as the ball ended up in Brown’s hands after Stevenson knocked it into a player he was supposed to be guarding or boxing out of the game.

Stevenson knows he is being torched on social media and elsewhere.

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“Honestly, I can’t worry about it,” Stevenson said. “My focus is on this building and how the people in this building feel.

‘I understand there is anger. I understand someone has been ticked. I understand the things that happen outside the building that could potentially affect how someone feels and all that. But to be honest, I’m going to worry about the opinion of the building and whether these guys support me, and that’s how I move forward.

Stevenson would not reveal exactly what he said privately to the team when he apologized.

“But the short message is that I apologize to the boys for letting them down. I let the moment become too big and it’s something that can never happen again and never will happen again,” Stevenson said.

Apparently the apology he made to the team went over well enough. Byard compared the situation to treating Stevenson as a parent would a child who has done something wrong.

“Like I said, it’s life,” Byard said. “If any of you have kids or something like that, and if your kids do something that you’re disappointed in or you don’t like, that doesn’t mean they’re not your kid anymore. You still love them. You still love it.

“You can chastise them, you can hold them accountable, but at the end of the day you still love them and Tyrique is our brother. He is my brother and I will continue to love and support him. Like I said, I know it will be a lesson for him. I believe he will learn from this lesson. He spoke to the team without anyone asking and more or less said his piece and said what he needed to say. I thought it was a great message, just apologizing and saying he wasn’t locked up and things like that. That just proves the evidence right there within himself. That’s all you can hope for in a situation like that and we will continue to support him.”

In addition to the final play, Stevenson had also allowed Terry McLaurin a 61-yard completion and incurred an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after another play.

Matt Eberflus wouldn’t say Stevenson is being punished in any way, but said such things are usually kept internal. He noted Stevenson’s reputation for playing with a lot of emotion.

“I talk to the players about it all the time. It’s great to have passion and I think it’s great to have that great enthusiasm for the game, but it also gets to a point where your emotions go over the top and you lose focus.” loses your concentration. And that’s for everyone.”

Twitter: BearsOnSI