The lasting image of this Bears season won’t be anything they staged and edited for ‘‘Hard Knocks.’’ It’ll be the raw and real cellphone video of cornerback Tyrique Stevenson jawing at Commanders fans with his back to the snap instead of his doing his job to prevent a game-winning Hail Mary touchdown that so far is the NFL’s play of the year.
It’s also going to be a career-defining play for Stevenson unless he does something so triumphant that it becomes a footnote. He’s only in his second season, but it can happen that fast.
Once thought to be a key to the Bears’ bright future in the secondary, Stevenson has been playing his way out of a starting job. Losing track of 49ers wide receiver Jauan Jennings to give up a touchdown pass on the first drive of the Bears’ 38-13 loss Sunday put him on even shakier ground.
Stevenson appeared to bite hard on 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy’s play-action fake and couldn’t recover to catch up with Jennings, who caught the ball behind him and in front of safety Jonathan Owens. When asked who was responsible for Jennings, interim coach Thomas Brown said, ‘‘The entire defense.’’
That wasn’t the Bears’ only defensive lapse, but that’s where the snowball started as they fell behind 24-0.
As humiliating as the Hail Mary episode should have been, it had no discernible effect on Stevenson. He stormed out of practice a few days later when he was told he wasn’t starting the next game, then partly blamed the media for his ordeal. He has continued jawing at opponents after plays and at times has had to be pulled away from conflicts.
In the loss to the Lions on Thanksgiving, Stevenson was on the sideline and appeared to trip Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams after he went out of bounds. When Williams got up, Stevenson smiled and said something, and Williams threw the ball in his face and got a 15-yard taunting penalty.
Stevenson got away with it in the game, but the league fined him $19,697 for unsportsmanlike conduct after review. He can appeal the decision.
The incident added to a reputation that will prompt officials to keep a closer watch on him, and if Stevenson isn’t giving the Bears the trade-off of good play, then they’ll run out of reasons to try to salvage their second-round investment in him.
If anyone at Halas Hall can get through to Stevenson, then this is the time. He has four games left this season to redirect his young career.
The Bears are deep at cornerback, and if Stevenson’s bad outweighs his good, it won’t matter that he was drafted 56th overall last year. The team is high on Terell Smith, a fifth-rounder in the same class picked 165th, and he played more than Stevenson did against the 49ers.
The antics and errors are tiresome, and Stevenson hasn’t played more than 60% of the defensive snaps in any of the last five games after playing most or all them early in the season.
That’s partly because he’s slipping in coverage, too. Quarterbacks have a 97.7 passer rating when throwing at him, according to Pro Football Reference. That’s the worst among any of the Bears’ regular corners.
General manager Ryan Poles doesn’t have time for this. His job is on the line in 2025, and he must make cold, calculated decisions about whether a player such as Stevenson helps or hinders the team.
If the Bears can’t get Stevenson on track by the end of the season, they’re better off trading or cutting him than letting trouble linger. He’s talented and depth is valuable, but given how he reacted to a temporary demotion last month, it’s doubtful he would be OK with being a backup next season.
