For as much praise was given to Jayden Daniels on the Washington Commanders' Week 8 miraculous Hail Mary win, an equal amount of criticism was placed on Chicago Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson. The second-year defender was seen taunting the crowd during the final play of the game before deflecting Daniels' pass into the waiting arms of Noah Brown to lose the game.
Stevenson issued an apology after the game but continues to be the subject of ridicule on social media. Leading receiver DJ Moore said the team captains are discussing how they want to address the situation internally.
“I didn’t see it happening during the play,” Moore said on the Mully & Haugh Show on Monday. “I’ve seen it just how everybody else has seen it. The captains were talking about how we need to really address that. I saw that he put something out that he was sorry, but we’ve still got to address it as a leadership group in front of the team.”
Moore is an offensive captain along with Caleb Williams, Cole Kmet and Marcedes Lewis. The four defensive captains consist of Tremaine Edmunds, T.J. Edwards, Kevin Byard and Jaylon Johnson.
While Moore is one of the most respected players in the Bears' locker room, the internal discussions will likely come down to Byard and Johnson, who exist in the same positional group as Stevenson. Ultimately, Stevenson's punishment will presumably be dished out by head coach Matt Eberflus.
Bears drop to last in NFC North with Week 8 loss
With the last-second loss to the Commanders in Week 8, the Bears dropped to 4-3 on the year. While they still own a winning record, Chicago dropped to last place in the competitive NFC North.
The NFC North is led by the 6-1 Detroit Lions, who have looked the part of being the best team in the NFL through eight weeks. The Green Bay Packers are half a game behind at 6-2 with the Minnesota Vikings a full game back of the Lions at 5-2. Detroit owns the only tiebreaker in the division thus far with a win over the Vikings in Week 7.
Coming out of the devastating loss, the Bears do not play a divisional game until facing the Packers in Week 11. Until then, Chicago has two winnable games ahead of them against the Arizona Cardinals and New England Patriots. The Cardinals are fresh off an upset win over the Miami Dolphins but are still just 4-4 on the year.