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Courtney Cronin
Lake Forest, Illinois – One year removed from the costly game that defined their second season Chicago Bearscornerback tyreek stevenson He said of the backlash he received for his role in tipping hail mary pass against Washington Commanders “does it still hurt.”
“It was rough,” Stevenson said. “It hurt my feelings. That’s the best way I can explain it. Being a football player and having one of those mistakes, it hurt my feelings that will last for a long time. Even when my son grows up, I’ll still have to explain it to him.”
“It definitely hurts. But just use it as fuel.”
The Bears were seconds away from defeating the Commanders in Week 8 last season Caleb Williams Led the offense down the field to score a touchdown and convert a 2-point attempt with 27 seconds remaining.
When Washington lined up for the final play of the game, Stevenson was facing the opposite direction, joking with fans in the stands at Northwest Stadium.
Once Stevenson realized the Commanders had stripped the ball, he sprinted towards the back of the end zone and inadvertently put the ball into the hands of the Washington wide receiver. noah brown,
commander won 18-15 En route to reaching the NFC Championship Game. Meanwhile, the Chicago loss is the first of 10 straight for the Bears, who fired offensive coordinator Shane Waldron and coach Matt Eberflus.
stevenson Apologized in team meeting Next day. Although his teammates supported him in admitting his mistake, not everyone was quick to move on from the mistake.
“They supported me,” Stevenson recalled Wednesday. “To be honest, I got some sideways glances. But like I was saying before, that’s what happens [Bears safety Kevin Byard‘s] Podcasting, it’s what we do for a living. In some cases that’s who we are. And the best thing we can do is go out there and make great plays.
“I made a bad play on film. The best thing they could do was come up to me and put their arm around me and be like, ‘We got you.’ That’s what he showed me last year.”
The Bears (2-2, 0-2) will travel to face the Commanders on “Monday Night Football” this week after the bye. Since 2013, Chicago is 2–10 in straight games following a bye week, and Stevenson expects that given their recent history, fans will once again attempt to divert their attention from the game.
“Going back into a hostile environment, they’re going to do their best to harass me,” Stevenson said. “The best thing I can do is come out here and show these 10 guys that I’m locked in here and ready to go.”
New Bears coach Ben Johnson said it is important for cornerbacks to have “short memories.”
“Sometimes you’re left on an island for 12 plays and no action comes your way and then, all of a sudden, something comes your way,” Johnson said. “If it’s a bad play, you have to be able to erase it, and if it’s a good play, it’s the same thing. You have to get on to the next one.”
Stevenson’s teammates say what happened against Washington has no bearing on the type of player he is currently.
“He—finished after that,” Cornerback kyler gordon told ESPN. “He admitted it, apologized, and I feel like since then, he’s been that way – he [he’s] I will not let people create this story about him. Go out there, still do what I do, and I feel like that’s what he’s going to focus on every week.”
As Stevenson reflects on the amount of change he has experienced professionally and personally since Week 8 of the 2024 season, including the birth of his son Tyreek Jr., he sees the tough lessons learned on the field as applicable to any situation throughout his life.
“I definitely appreciate it, because I would never change that,” Stevenson said. “I had success with my mindset and what I was doing at the time. And I felt like with that situation, it was preparing me to grow and mature and be able to determine any situation that comes with this game … and be able to stand up and confront these guys when things don’t go my way.”
