Tyrique Stevenson Won't Be Defined by Fail Mary

Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson has lived and learned the hard lessons of last season's Fail Mary. "I owned it."

By Clete Campbell

Windy City End Zone

The Fail Mary could live rent free in Tyrique Stevenson’s head if he let it.

It could define his career if he let it.

It could be the bad penny that follows him every time he hits the field if he let it.

The trolls are everywhere, even in the No. 1 video game on the planet.

“They've been taunting Tyrique Stevenson from a distance, these fans of other teams, in much the same way Washington Commanders fans did last year,” Sports Illustrated’s Gene Chamberlain writes. (Tyrique Stevenson only too eager to leave Hail Mary talk behind) “It's even in Minecraft characters on a Chargers schedule release video, and the Bears don't even play L.A. this season, regular or pre.”

The cynical, unforgiving section of the football world knows all too well and loves to remind him in case he forgot, Stevenson’s fatal mistake pre-play taunting of Washington Commanders fans left him out of position to prevent Washington quarterback Jayden Daniels from finding Noah Brown in the end zone for a Hail Mary walk-off 18-15 victory at Northwest Stadium.

“Comes down to one last play and it's gonna be—. Getting longer by the second,” CBS Sports iconic play-by-play man Jim Nantz narrated. “You're all the way back at the 30-yard-line. Now you can step into it. Here comes the Hail Mary with the game on the line. And the ball is caught! Caught! It's a miracle! It's Noah Brown! Oh my goodness! This town is going crazy! It's a madhouse in Landover, Maryland!”

It sounded incredibly less exciting on the Bears Radio Network.

“Jayden Daniels shifting back, being pressured, Jayden Daniels, being hemmed into the pocket, looking for blockers, looking for something,” Bears play-by-play man Jeff Joniak described one of the most infamous plays in Chicago pro football history. “He's got plenty of time. Launches, deep pass, into the area, the end zone, tipped and it's caught by Noah Brown. He was the tip man, and now this place has gone into bedlam mode. Washington, with the miracle finish. The break-up pass, into the waiting arms of Noah Brown, nobody back there.

“Crushing loss.”

The Fail Mary fallout was nuclear. The defeat kickstarted a season-killing 10-game losing streak (two losses courtesy of a kinetic Ben Johnson-directed Detroit Lions offense) that claimed two head coaches and the Bears’ playoff hopes among its many victims.

In Maryland, they call it “The Hail Maryland.”

Not in Chicago.

The Bears' new coaching regime is forgetting last year and moving on and encouraging Tyrique to do the same.

“Stevenson’s new coaches didn’t live through that circus. They’re not asking him to relive it, either,” the Sun-Times’ Patrick Finley writes. (Bears giving Tyrique Stevenson a 'clean slate' — and a scheme that suits him — after Fail Mary gaffe - Chicago Sun-Times)

“He’s grown from it, and what’s in the past is in the past and we’re moving forward,” new Bears coach Ben Johnson said of Fail Mary Gate.

Tyrique Stevenson is driven like Mario Andretti and riding faster than Brad Pitt in the upcoming film “F1” to bury the ghosts of the Fail Mary. He will not allow one play and one mistake to define him as a football player or as a man.

“There's really no conversation needed to be had," Stevenson said. "I owned it. It was a mistake. I just happen to play a sport where my mistake is nationally televised and I feel like in talking to me and going through the meetings, they can see that I already owned it up to it.”

The 2025 season is a clean slate for Tyrique Stevenson. His head coach believes he’s back to being who he wants to be: one of the best shutdown corners in the NFL.

"What we love about him is he's got some length and he's not afraid, which, I think, those are two things that you really need to play corner, particularly the style of corner that we're looking for--guys that will come up, they'll challenge, they'll get hands on," Johnson said. "Press man-to-man, is something that we're going to do a healthy amount of, and we feel like he fits that mold really well.

"Once again, he's learning the scheme. There are some different things that DA (defensive coordinator Dennis Allen) and (DBs/defensive passing game coordinator) Al Harris and the rest of the crew are asking of him. He's been very receptive so far. He's a young, hungry player, just like a lot of these guys."

But few players have more motivation to deliver in 2025 than Tyrique Stevenson, especially on Oct. 13 when the Bears rematch with the Commanders.

And the Bears are betting on him. For the Fail Mary is long gone yesterday.

“Despite his mistake, the Bears made a conscious decision this offseason to bet on Stevenson’s athleticism,” the gifted Finley writes. “They didn’t sign or draft a logical replacement for him. Nick McCloud, their most notable free-agent signing at cornerback, allowed a perfect 158.3 passer rating on plays in which he was targeted last year. “Cornerback Zah Frazier, their fifth-round pick, started only one season at UTSA and is seen as more of a developmental project.”

Tyrique Stevenson remains the present and future of the Chicago Bears secondary.