What Tyrique Stevenson, Matt Eberflus, Chicago Bears said Monday after loss to Commanders

Bears coach Matt Eberflus and some players met with reporters over Zoom on Monday a day after they were stunned by the Washington Commanders on a last-second Hail Mary throw that led to a loss.

There were plenty of questions that needed to be answered after the surprising loss. Video surfaced after the game of cornerback Tyrique Stevenson talking with fans in the stands as the Hail Mary play started, and there were questionable play calls throughout the loss.

The Bears will try to answer all those questions this week at Halas Hall as they prepare to go back on the road to Glendale, Arizona, on Sunday, to play the Cardinals. Here are three of the most interesting things the Bears said Monday.

On Stevenson’s lack of attention on Hail Mary

Stevenson spoke with reporters for the first time since video showed him not being prepared for the start of the Hail Mary throw. He said he was cheering with Bears fans and not taunting Commanders fans while the play started. Stevenson also said that he tried to knock the ball down when he went up in the air once he caught up to the play.

Stevenson addressed the team Monday morning and apologized for the moment.

“Honestly just letting my teammates down in a situation that we pretty much know how to handle on any day pretty much with our eyes closed,” Stevenson said. “I would say the only regret I would have from yesterday is just letting this team down from working hard, coming back and putting us in a [win] column. Just for me to be out of place, do something that’s out of character for me and cost us a loss.”

The play ended a tough day for Stevenson. It started late in the first quarter when Commanders wide receiver Terry McLaurin got past Stevenson on a one-on-one matchup and caught a 61-yard pass from Jayden Daniels. Stevenson also earned an unnecessary roughness penalty in the third quarter.

Bears safety Kevin Byard said the Bears appreciated Stevenson addressing the team unprompted and that the Bears will have his back and he faces backlash for the final play.

“I think, for him, it’s going to be a great lesson for him just as we go forward throughout the season and in life, period,” Byard said. “How to be able to handle this adversity. You only lose what you don’t learn. I think he’s going to learn from it, and we’ll get better from it.”

Stevenson said there wasn’t any penalty from the team for the gaffe when he spoke with reporters. Eberflus said he would look at it and handle it internally and focus on how the moment could lead to development for not only Stevenson, but the whole team.

“It’s great to have passion, it’s great to have great enthusiasm for the game, but it also comes to a point where your emotions go over the top and you lose focus,” Eberflus said. “You have to have that balance if you’re that type of player that plays with great intensity like Tyrique does, to be able to have that so it doesn’t go over the top and you lose your focus and your concentration.”

On controversial play calling

Eberflus gave more insight into some big plays in Sunday’s loss, including the final Hail Mary pass. He said Stevenson was supposed to box out Noah Brown, who caught the touchdown pass, while Byard was supposed to knock the ball down.

Eberflus also noted that defensive end Montez Sweat was not available because he was out with a shin injury while linebacker TJ Edwards was where he needed to be, staying on the Commanders running back.

According to Eberflus, the play call was correct, it just came down to execution.

“We have to do a good job executing in those critical moments, and we’ve executed that play several times,” Eberflus said. “We just have to do a better job in that moment.”

Eberflus also defended the way the Bears performed on the previous play that put the Commanders in better position to complete the Hail Mary. Daniels completed a 13-yard pass to McLaurin, who was wide open, that took off four seconds of game time and moved the ball to the Commanders’ 48-yard-line.

Video showed Eberflus telling his cornerbacks to move up a little, and Byard said he told Eberflus that he thought they could’ve pressed more when the two went over the play.

“At the end of the day, things happened the way they happened,” Byard said. “Could we have sent pressure? Maybe. He made the call, and that’s what it was.”

Eberflus was also forced to defend a play call where quarterback Caleb Williams handed the ball off to offensive lineman Doug Kramer from the Commanders’ 1 in the fourth quarter. Williams and Kramer couldn’t connect on the snap, and Williams fumbled the ball, which the Commanders recovered.

“We’ve practiced it, it looked good in practice, that’s what we went with,” Eberflus said. “We just got to execute that handoff better and then push it in there for the touchdown. If it didn’t work on that particular one, we were going to go to the next one.”

Kmet on team accountability

Bears tight end Cole Kmet told reporters a couple of weeks ago that the team’s talent had helped the Bears overcome some mistakes in games earlier in the season. On Sunday, mistakes like Stevenson’s became too much to overcome.

Kmet said that came down to respecting the game throughout the week.

“I think we had examples of that throughout the game and quite frankly throughout the week of practices this past week, where there are moments where maybe some guys lay off here or there,” Kmet said “Those are the types of things that can happen when you do that for a split second. It doesn’t always come to bite you in the butt, but when it does, it hurts.”

Kmet clarified that he meant the little things in the dark that coaches can’t see all the time. He gave the examples of doing five repetitions in the weight room instead of six, staying after practice to catch more balls from the jugs machine or having the right footwork during walkthroughs.

“Honestly just letting my teammates down in a situation that we pretty much know how to handle on any day pretty much with our eyes closed. I would say the only regret I would have from yesterday is just letting this team down from working hard, coming back and putting us in a [win] column. Just for me to be out of place, do something that’s out of character for me and cost us a loss.”

—  Tyrique Stevenson, Bears cornerback

Kmet said that can be fixed by players holding themselves and others accountable. He also mentioned that while Sunday was a tough loss, the Bears weren’t losing faith in each other.

“I don’t think any of us really came away from that game having any less faith in the coaching staff and what we’ve got going on here, or the culture that we have growing,” Kmet said. “At the end of the day, it just came down to one play. Unfortunately, the ball literally bounced the other away in the final seconds.”