Bear Digest

Have Tyrique Stevenson's Bears fortunes finally done a reversal?

After a slow start to the season, the hot-and-cold Bears cornerback made the defensive play to get everyone focused early en route to a 31-14 win over Dallas.
Gene Chamberlain|
Tyrique Stevenson celebrates his takeaway early in Sunday's Bears 31-14 win over Dallas.
Tyrique Stevenson celebrates his takeaway early in Sunday's Bears 31-14 win over Dallas. | David Banks-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

A special defensive players only meeting last Wednesday had set the tone for a bounce back after the debacle in Detroit, and then came the Dallas game.

Whoops.

Javonte Williams was running down the sidelines 22 yards with the football to the Bears' 28-yard line on Dallas' first possession. So much for that players only meeting.

One of those most exposed on defense in the rout by Detroit then stepped forth and put a stop to it all. Tyrique Stevenson stole the ball from behind and from that point on the Bears defense seemed to settle back into form.

"Honestly, I just realized he didn't want it, like he didn't want the ball," Stevenson said Monday at Halas Hall. "They preach ball security, and I saw it. As he was looking for the block, I was like, 'He doesn't want it, so I'm going to just take it,' pretty much."

It wasn't quite that simple. He had to negotiate the sideline and somehow stayed in bounds after taking it way from Williams.

"I didn't even know how I toe-tapped," Stevenson said. "I was really just going after the ball. Once I swiped down to take it, everything else after that was just me being a football player."

Stevenson's big play started the Bears on the right path to their 31-14 win. He has interceptions and fumble recoveries but had never simply taken the ball out of someone's hands.

"No, that's what's crazy, that's the first time ever," he said. "I think about it all the time. We work the (Charles Tillman) Peanut Punch. I was just like, 'I'm going to just take it.' It was a take-it moment, and I just took it."

The boost Stevenson provided seemed to jolt everyone's memory, maybe of their players' only meeting and the game a week earlier when they allowed 52 points.

"I felt it, I definitely felt it, and we needed that," Stevenson said. "We came out, we had a three-and-out. Definitely isn't what we want.

"For me to be able to spark the momentum, I felt it, the whole team felt it. I'm glad that I was able to make that play for us."

The Bears continue to view Stevenson as a big-play type even after the disaster of the "Fail Mary," pass he was involved in last year, and after a horrendous start this year. Then again, they don't have much choice with Kyler Gordon out still and with Jaylon Johnson out indefinitely but with a possibility of returning later. 

"He's always been a super talented player," Johnson said of the 2023 second-round pick. "There's a reason why he was drafted high. I think a number of teams really liked him coming out of college. It's really just been a consistency issue with him. There are times where he looks like a Pro Bowl type player, and there's other times where he'll let his guard down just a little bit and we can't have those snafus.

"I thought yesterday he took a step in the right direction. He strung together more good plays than what he had so far this season. I think it's a great opportunity for him to build on going from Week 3 into Week 4.”

Stevenson's bounce back was huge. He had a passer rating against of 158.3 according to Pro Football Focus, and it can't get worse. Pro Football Reference generously had him at 153.3, the difference of maybe one reception allowed.

Stevenson also had two pass breakups in the game and three tackles, and the Bears defense produced four takeaways. He refocused after the disaster in Detroit.

"A couple of plays last week, when we had a zone defense, and I could not grasp it for some reason," he said. "I just came in in the morning, stayed after practice, and we worked on that play.

"I saw them do it to different teams, different styles of defense, and just things like that to make sure that I'm consistent, seeing it over and over again."

Stevenson wasn't surprised by this ability to rebound.

"Honestly, no," he said. "I know that I am capable of having this type of game every game that I step on the field. It's just about how I go about it and me being consistent throughout the week with my preparation.

"I just felt like, this week, I took my preparation up to another level, which allowed me to play a little bit more freely, and it showed."

Considering their loss of Jaylon Johnson and Gordon's continued absence, they need Stevenson to step up as the mature, experienced veteran with plays like this Sunday going into Las Vegas for a game with the Raiders. They need it from the whole secondary, again, after they allowd only a 71.7 passer rating to Cowboys QBs on Sunday.

"That's really what this week was, putting our best foot forward," Stevenson said. "Now, next week, it's taking another step towards that."

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.