If Bears punish Tyrique Stevenson, why not Shane Waldron?

There’s been a lot of talk about a possible punishment or suspension for Bear cornerback Tyrique Stevenson after his blunder on Washington’s Hail Mary pass.

There has been no comment from coach Matt Eberflus or the Bears on this situation as things are being kept “in house,” but the Tribune’s Dan Wiederer commented via Twitter that it appears someone else will be starting this season in his place . week. Wiederer did not report that this is definitely happening, only that it seemed to be heading this way. But numerous claim jumpers on social media immediately hailed it as fact that Stevenson was already on the bench.

That could be the case, but it certainly seems like a tough time for the Bears to be thinking about benching anyone.

They’re not yet certain they’ll have cornerback Kyler Gordon back. Hamstrings are difficult, even though he was able to practice on Friday. He could just as quickly leave the game on Sunday with the injury. And safety Jaquan Brisker is out again with a concussion.

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Playing Washington without 40% of their regular secondary players, they held Jayden Daniels to four field goals until an accidental pass and poor play, with Stevenson flying in to tip the ball to a player he should have been covering. Stevenson might have been in position if he hadn’t been standing with his back to the fans when the game started.

Other Tyrique Stevenson mistakes

That one play isn’t the only mistake Stevenson made in the game. Some might say he probably doesn’t deserve to start, period, and not just because of that one play.

An unnecessary roughness penalty earlier in the match for a punk move and also beating a ball from 61 yards deep to Terry McLaurin weren’t exactly brilliant moments for Stevenson either.

Stevenson’s season started spectacularly, after a strange situation. He didn’t start the opener even though he is the starter. Hmmm.

In your own home.

Matt Eberflus would not comment on why this happened. But Stevenson played and made the game-winning pick of Will Levis in the comeback win over Tennessee.

Since then it has been a period of inconsistency, at least according to the analytical sect.

Pro Football Focus currently ranks Stevenson 98th out of 110 cornerbacks and 99th in pass coverage, although Stathead and Pro Football Reference give Stevenson a respectable passer rating of 94.3 when targeted. According to Stathead, he’s also allowing just 56.8% completions when targeted, which makes you wonder what exactly PFF is looking at. He leads the Bears in pass breakups with six and this is indisputable.

Even with a one-game absence against Jacksonville due to a calf injury, it’s probably been a better year for Stevenson than his rookie year until the Hail Mary pass. Stathead said he allowed nine touchdown passes as a rookie. He has given up just two this season on a team with the best red zone defense in the league.

Potential replacement Terell Smith was always viewed favorably by Eberflus, but was not tested to the extent that Stevenson has. He has made just 389 defensive plays in his career to Stevenson’s 1,193, and only 12 appearances this year because he was injured at the same time Gordon, Brisker and Stevenson were injured.

Punish him for what?

There are countless stupid plays and blunders made in the NFL every week. If you’re going to bench players for one play in a match, good luck finding someone who plays flawless ball. Even a few bad plays don’t seem like bench material.

The Bears would willingly cripple themselves by benching him, and for what purpose?

Stevenson is not a little kid who has to learn from his mistake. Stevenson clearly feels bad about costing his teammates a loss.

Punishing him any more won’t teach him anything, and really, what’s the point of just keeping him on the sidelines a few times and then putting him on the field? That is a symbolic punishment anyway. If you think he should be punished, then it should be an actual punishment, better yet a fine. Money talks.

Either way, they better be careful with that punishment.

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If Eberflus benched Stevenson and they lost to the Cardinals because their substitutes Kyler Murray and Marvin Harrison Jr. can’t stop them, then it’s not Stevenson’s fault they lost. They could try to spin it and say that if Stevenson hadn’t earned the penalty, he would have played and they wouldn’t have lost. But it would really be Eberflus’ fault if he punishes a player who already feels bad about the whole situation and then exposes his team to a good passer with poor coverage.

So in that case, they would have suffered one loss because of one bad play by a player last week, and then another loss because of their coach’s knee-jerk reaction.

The Bears retained Velus Jones Jr. to use. He muffed kicks, ran around in circles, fell to the ground and dropped passes, he made stupid penalties in front of the referee when he was covering the punt team and eventually they had to get rid of him after he muffed a kickoff in the opener. And Stevenson should be benched because of one bad game?

Also look at Shane Waldron

It’s hard enough to win games in the NFL without deliberately weakening your own pass defense, but benching Stevenson wouldn’t be the first mistake this coaching staff has made.

If you’re going to suspend or bench Stevenson for one play – even if it’s the game-ender – why not suspend offensive coordinator Shane Waldron for one of the worst play-calls of all time.

Doug Kramer walking on the 1-yard line with the Bears trailing 12-7 in the fourth quarter may have been the worst play call in Bears history, or at least since the last bad call he made or Luke Getsy’s last. season. It’s probably just before Waldron’s option toss call on fourth-and-goal from the half-yard line against the Colts, maybe just before Getsy used Cole Kmet on a quarterback snap against Green Bay on fourth-and-1.

Handing the ball to a center who has never carried the ball in the NFL before, with an entire playbook to choose from and two good backs available, certainly represents a more egregious mistake than what Stevenson did.

But you can’t suspend the offensive coordinator, especially if you go along with everything he does and support him 100% like Eberflus has.

By the way, Eberflus’ inability to use a timeout and protect the sideline before the Hail Mary were two very stupid mistakes, and he is not suspended.

Or at least that’s how it seems. At Halas Hall they keep a lot of things in-house, so we don’t really know.

Twitter: BearsOnSI

Twitter: BearsOnSI