Dennis Allen: Tyrique Stevenson's Biggest Issue is Prevalent Throughout Bears Defense

Dennis Allen says a point of emphasis for Tyrique Stevenson is also one for the entire Chicago Bears defense.

Chicago Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Over the course of his three years with the Chicago Bears, we have seen the duality of cornerback Tyrique Stevenson.

We've seen flashes of a player who looks like a starting-caliber cornerback, and then we've seen struggles like the ones that got Stevenson benched last season in favor of Nahshon Wright.

Now in a contract year, Stevenson is facing a crucial season for his career. If he succeeds, Stevenson can earn himself a nice payday in 2027, but if he has another year like he had in 2025, he'll earn himself backup money.

But, first things first, Stevenson has to win a starting job in training camp, and he's going to have to beat out at least rookie Malik Muhammad to get it.

In order to earn the trust of the coaching staff and a starting job, Stevenson has got to be more consistent, as defensive coordinator Dennis Allen said on Wednesday.

Allen also noted that Stevenson isn't the only one who needs to be more consistent, as consistency is an issue throughout the entire defense.

"I think he can be a starting-caliber corner in our league, and I think he can be a starting-caliber corner for us," he said. "Tyrique needs to be more consistent. "There's plays — I could make you tape of Tyrique from last season that you would look at and say, 'Woo, that's pretty freakin' good.'

"But it's the lapses in consistency that we have to improve on and that, really, at the end of the day, that runs throughout the vein of the defense. If we're going to improve as a defense, we've got to become more consistent, more efficient. And that's really what we're going to focus on during training camp."

The Bears have several concerns on defense as training camp begins, and the CB2 spot Stevenson is competing for is one of them. Chicago's concerns with and surprising lack of action at edge rusher and interior defensive line have been well-documented, also.

Chicago did not play well defensively last season, but the team was able to overcome the lapses because of a league-high 33 takeaways.

But it's hard to count on that kind of turnover performance once again, especially when three of the top four of the team's 2025 turnover leaders are no longer in Chicago.

Knowing all that, Allen hits the nail on the head when he says that consistency is key to the Bears getting better on defense in 2026.