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Intro and apology to Bears teammates from Tyrique Stevenson

Posted on by Gerres
Intro and apology to Bears teammates from Tyrique Stevenson

On Monday, Tyrique Stevenson continued to apologize for his role in the Hail Mary pass that defeated the Bears Sunday.

The information appeared on social media on Sunday evening, but on Monday it took the form of a press conference.

“So I would say my only regret from yesterday is letting this team down by working hard and then going back and putting myself in the W column,” Stevenson said. “You know, just to be out of place and, you know, I did something that’s out of character for me and costs us a loss.”

Stevenson was the player who actually threw the ball back to Washington receiver Noah Brown, who was alone in the back of the end zone, to catch the ball and the game-winning touchdown in the Commanders’ 18-15 win.

During the game, Stevenson’s job was not to run after the ball, but Brown’s.

“Tyrique has to do a good job of getting his body into 85 (Brown) and fighting him,” coach Matt Eberflus said. “We know he has to handle it well. KB (Kevin Byard) was the guy who was going to knock the ball down.

“We have to do a good job of executing our tasks in these critical moments. We played this game several times. At this point we just need to do a better job.

As the play began, Stevenson was yelling with Bears fans, then realized the play was going on, then rushed to get back to it and did the wrong thing. This moment was immortalized in a recording widely presented on social media on Sunday evening.

“The fun was I was going to hit 85 (bronze),” Stevenson said. “At the beginning of the game I was cheering, I was just cheering for some Bears fans, I wasn’t mocking any fans.”

The published video suggested Stevenson was shouting at and taunting Commanders fans.

“I was just rooting for some Bears fans, and the Washington fans reacted the way they wanted,” Stevenson said. “My goal, my job was to score 85 points. You know, when I went up to hit the ball, I just wanted to knock it down. There are no steals, especially in such close games, so I just try to create a good game for my team.

“It was easy to say, ‘Oh, Tyrique, good downed pass,’ and we’re not in the position we’re in now.”

That didn’t happen, and the Bears’ streak ended at three because the ball ended up in Brown’s hands after Stevenson hit it to a player he was supposed to be guarding or boxing out on the play.

Stevenson knows he’s getting hate on social media and elsewhere.

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“Honestly, I can’t worry about it,” Stevenson said. “My attention is focused on this building and how people feel in it.

“I understand there is anger. I understand that someone is angry. I understand things that happen outside the building that can affect how someone feels and so on. But honestly, I’m going to worry about the opinion of the building and whether these guys will support me and that’s what keeps me moving forward.

Stevenson did not want to detail what he told the team privately when he apologized.

“But the short message is: I’m sorry to the boys for letting them down. I allowed this moment to become too important and it is something that can never and will never happen again,” Stevenson said.

His apology to the team was apparently well received. Byard compared the situation to Stevenson being treated like a parent would deal with a child who had done something wrong.

“Like I said, that’s life,” Byard said. “If either of you have children or something like that, if your children do something that disappoints you or that you don’t like, it doesn’t mean that it’s not your child anymore. You still love them. You still love them.

“You can punish them, you can hold them accountable, but at the end of the day you still love them and Tyrique is our brother. He is my brother and I will continue to love and support him. Like I said, I know this will be a learning experience for him. I believe he will learn from this lesson. He addressed the team, no one asked, and he kind of said what he had to say, and I thought that was great news, just apologizing and saying he wasn’t locked up and stuff like that. It just shows the evidence inside him. That’s all you can count on in a situation like this, and we will continue to support him.”

In addition to the final play, Stevenson also allowed Terry McLaurin to complete a 61-yard completion and assessed him an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the next play.

Matt Eberflus wouldn’t say Stevenson was punished in any way, but he said such things are usually kept secret. He noticed that Stevenson played with a lot of emotion.

“I talk to the players about it all the time. It’s great to have passion and I think it’s great to have so much enthusiasm for the game, but there comes a point where your emotions get the better of you and you lose concentration, Eberflus said. “You have to keep that balance if you are the type of player who plays with high intensity, like Tyrique, to be able to achieve that, to not overdo it and not lose focus and your concentration. And this applies to everyone.

Twitter: BearsOnSI