How rookie CB Terell Smith’s back-to-back stops cemented Chicago Bears’ win over Arizona Cardinals

CHICAGO – History seemed poised to repeat itself. Again.

The Bears were forced to punt the ball back to the Arizona Cardinals with just over four minutes to go in a one-possession game. Given that this Bears squad has blown three double-digit leads in the fourth quarter this season, there was a nervous energy buzzing around Soldier Field on Christmas Eve.

But Bears punter Trenton Gill blasted a 57-yard punt and pinned Arizona inside its own 10-yard line. Rookie cornerback Terell Smith came up with two huge stops on third and fourth down to stop any comeback in its tracks.

The Bears closed out a win, 27-16, on Sunday in Chicago.

On third-and-6 at Arizona’s 27-yard line, Smith broke up a pass from Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray intended for receiver Michael Wilson. On the next play, Smith was in coverage on Greg Dortch when Murray looked for Dortch deep.

“Once I saw him slow up and try and wait for the ball, I’m like I’ve got to slow up with him,” Smith said. “I just had to play through his hands.”

Smith’s coverage was tight enough to cause an incompletion, but the Soldier Field crowd held its collective breath waiting to see if the refs would throw a flag. No flags came flying, and the Bears had a fourth-down stop, which essentially cemented the win.

When the Bears defense needed a stop Sunday, it found one. That hasn’t always been the case with the 2023 Bears. This is a team that is learning – and still sometimes struggling – to finish games. The Bears did it on Sunday.

“As you start to finish games you start to learn how to finish games,” left tackle Braxton Jones said. “You’ve got to finish games to know how to finish games, right? We didn’t blink.”

The Bears rushed for 250 yards on Sunday, with running back Khalil Herbert totaling 112 yards and a touchdown and quarterback Justin Fields going for 97 yards and a score. The Bears built a three-score lead, 21-0, in the first half, led by tight end Cole Kmet’s career-high 107 receiving yards.

But Kmet didn’t play in the second half after sustaining a knee injury and top receiver DJ Moore was essentially a decoy after tweaking his ankle on the first possession of the game. The offensive production screeched to a halt in the second half.

Arizona scored on a 38-yard touchdown reception from Dortch to make it an eight-point game with just under seven minutes to play. Then the Bears offense went three-and-out and things weren’t looking good for the Bears.

That’s when Gill, the second-year punter boomed a 57-yard punt to pin Arizona on its own 9-yard line. That set up the key stop for Smith.

“It’s just building,” Gill said. “Right, like, we have a good punt as a team, then the D has a good three, four plays and the offense gets the ball in good field position. So it keeps building and building.”

Smith, a fifth-round draft pick in April, has split time during his rookie season with second-round pick Tyrique Stevenson. Stevenson has been the starter, but Smith has played significant snaps, when healthy (he missed a month with mononucleosis).

Even though they’re battling each other for playing time, there’s no competitiveness between Stevenson and Smith. These guys met at the Combine, when they went one after the other in all the drills. That friendship built even more when the Bears drafted both of them.

Stevenson was the happiest player on the sideline when Smith made those stops.

It just warmed my heart to see him go out there and make [those plays]. [We have] the same goal, we both want to go out there and be top DBs in this league.”

—  Tyrique Stevenson, Bears cornerback

“It just warmed my heart to see him go out there and make [those plays],” Stevenson said. “[We have] the same goal, we both want to go out there and be top DBs in this league.”

They certainly caught the attention of head coach Matt Eberflus, too. Eberflus praised Smith’s attention to detail.

“That’s just growth for him, right?” Eberflus said. “The more you do that, the more confident you’re going to get. We have a lot of first- and second-year players on this football team that are getting that experience to rise and take that next step. As a football team, we’re going to need those guys.”