LAKE FOREST, Ill., — In Week 6, the Chicago Bears will return to the nation's capital to face off against the Washington Commanders in primetime. When the two teams meet, it will be the first time since the infamous 'Fail Mary' that delivered the Commanders a big win and sent the Bears' season spiraling.
And the player involved in the center of it all says he's still hurt by it.
"It still hurts, because at the end of the day I'm a football player and the last thing I wanna do is have a play that's not so good and my name be memorable," Tyrique Stevenson said on Wednesday. "On top of all the good things, I did it could overshadow that."
Stevenson was at the center of the play, seen taunting the crowd right before it and then having to rush over in coverage. He tipped the pass that landed in the hands of Noah Brown and delivered the Commanders a big win.
For the Bears, it sunk their season. Players were upset with a coaching decision to essentially give Jayden Daniels and the Commanders an easy 15 yards as well as the coverage they had on with the Hail Mary play. The next week, the Bears were blown out in Arizona and a few weeks later, Matt Eberflus was fired.
Stevenson took the rightful blame for the play, apologizing to his team the next day. There were some doubters but in the end, his teammates still supported him.
"They gave me support. Being honest, I got a couple of side-eyes," Stevenson said. "But that comes with, like I was saying on the podcast, this is what we do for a living. This is who we are in some cases. And the best thing we can do is go out there and make great plays. And I put a bad play on film. The best thing they could do was come around and put their arm around me and be like, we got you. That's what they showed me all last year."
Moving forward, Stevenson is using the play as motivation not only for himself and the rest of his career but for his son, to teach him about hard moments in life.
"It was harsh. It hurt my feelings. That's the best way I can explain it — it just hurt my feelings being a football player and having one of those mistakes that's going to linger around," Stevenson said. "Even when my son grows up, I've gotta explain that to him. It definitely hurt. But just use it as fuel."
As we inch closer to kickoff, Stevenson is treating this like any other game. He has to. The defensive back has been really good the last two games for the Tar Heels, coming away with some key turnovers to help his team win games.
"Nothing. It's a 1-0 game. I had a bad play. It is what it is," Stevenson. "But I need to come out there and be the CB1 for this team and get the job done."
And getting a win on Monday night would surely help ease some of last year's frustrations.
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