Heroes come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes they take the form of a freakishly large humanoid from space with the ability to fly at the speed of sound — other times, they take the form of a Chicago Bears cornerback.
In the midst of a truly wild NFL Sunday with just about every game having unbelievable, jaw-dropping moments, no one shined harder than Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson on the final play of the Bears’ 18-15 loss to the Commanders. Stevenson made himself the protagonist of the week by having an all-time lapse in concentration, which played a huge role in a last-second Hail Mary winning the game as time expired.
Everyone that follows football knows that cornerbacks, and all defensive backs really, can be a tad bombastic at times. It’s a position that takes an immense amount of confidence and ability to eat criticism in order to play. In a similar vein to offensive linemen, most people really only remember cornerbacks when they’re getting beat because the implications are always drastic for their teammates. As the Commanders lined up for one last heave to the end zone, Stevenson had his bravado on full display as he was yapping his ass off to the Commanders fans.
It’s also easy to understand why Stevenson briefly felt a moment of triumph before the play. Hail Marys are rarely completed, hence the name, so there was reason to believe that the Bears would be able to defend the final play attempt — an attempt that was made easier by Stevenson because he was still trading barbs with the crowd as the play was going. The ball was snapped, the Bears’ defensive line was engaged, Commanders receivers were running toward the end zone and Stevenson was still in the corner of the end zone with his back turned to the entire play. If it wasn’t for a handful of Bears fans sitting near the field that pointed out the play had started, he might still be going back and forth with Commanders fans right now.
Stevenson didn’t turn around until the Commanders receivers were just 20 yards away from the end zone with the ball about to be thrown. Realizing his incredulous mistake, Stevenson had to take his effort into overdrive to sprint from the corner of the defense towards the mosh pit forming near the goal line. Since he was so late to actually start, you know, playing football, he was the last person to arrive at the landing point of the ball — which was actually short of the goal line. His last-ditch effort to not look like a complete fool on the play involved him jumping at the ball from a full sprint and deflecting the ball at the perfect angle for it to float back up in the air and land in the hands of Commanders wide receiver Noah Brown.
If he had just paid attention to what was going on, he would’ve been in position to be in front of the ball instead of coming in from an angle. That would’ve given him a much easier chance to just slap the ball down, but the delayed heroic antics caused an ending so uproarious that it would make HBO comedy writers wish it was their own brainchild. Inattentiveness into pure destruction in about a 20-second span cemented Stevenson as a legend within minutes of the game ending.
Stevenson posted an apology to Bears fans after the game and that he would be better moving forward, and apologized to teammates on Monday. It’s honestly hard to believe that something like this could happen to him again. It was just that dumb. It simply can’t happen again.
But it happened once. A play so bewildering that it immediately becomes one of the greatest football bloopers of all time. A unique moment of ripe incompetence that can’t be repeated must be celebrated. It’s one of those plays so unbelievably horrible that it actually strengthens people’s fondness for the game. Comedies and tragedies can hold a lot of the same thematic concepts and that was fully encapsulated by a Bears cornerback that was completely in outer space on the last play of the game.
Hopefully Stevenson can rebound from his immortalized mistake and move on. Luckily, the Bears are still 4-3 and still in good position to make a playoff push. He’s a valuable member of one of the best defenses in the league and he will use this incident to become a better player.
But, for now, we must laugh. And we have. And we are. And we will.