If the Bears Suspend Tyrique Stevenson, Why Not Shane Waldron?

Much is being made about a possible fine or suspension for Bear cornerback Tyrique Stevenson after Washington’s gaffe on a Hail Mary pass.

There has been no comment from coach Matt Eberflus or the Bears on this situation as things are being handled “in-house”, but Dan Wiederer of the Tribune commented via Twitter that this situation appears to be heading someone else’s way instead. week. Wiederer did not report that this was definitely happening, only that it appeared to be heading in that direction. But numerous claim-jumpers on social media quickly touted this as the fact that Stevenson was already benched.

Maybe, but it sure seems like a tough time for the Bears to consider benching anyone.

They’re not sure they’ll get cornerback Kyler Gordon back just yet. Although he was able to train on Friday, his hamstrings are tough. He could quickly leave the game on Sunday due to his injury. And Jaquan Brisker is out again with a concussion.

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They played Washington without 40% of their normal secondary, holding Jayden Daniels to four shots until a fluke pass and foul play; Stevenson flew towards a player who was supposed to be guarding the ball. Stevenson might have been in this position if he hadn’t been chatting away with the fans when the game started.

Other Tyrique Stevenson Mistakes

This play isn’t the only mistake Stevenson made in the game. Some might say he probably doesn’t deserve to start, and not just because of that play.

An unnecessary roughness penalty for a punk lunge early in the game, as well as losing to Terry McLaurin on a 61-yard deep ball, were also not the brightest moments for Stevenson.

After a strange situation, Stevenson’s season got off to a great start. Even though he was an opener, he did not start the opener. Hmmmm.

In-house.

Matt Eberflus did not comment on why this happened. However, Stevenson grounded Will Levis and made the game-winning 6th pick in the comeback win over Tennessee.

Since then there has been a season of inconsistency, at least according to the analytic sect.

Pro Football Focus currently ranks Stevenson 98th out of 110 cornerbacks and 99th in pass coverage; but Stathead and Pro Football Reference give Stevenson a respectable 94.3 passer rating when targeted. He also allows only 56.8% completions when targeted according to Stathead, which makes you wonder what exactly PFF is looking at. He leads the Bears with six interceptions, and that’s without question.

Despite his one-game absence against Jacksonville due to a calf injury, this year was arguably a better year for Stevenson than his rookie year until the Hail Mary pass. He allowed nine goals as a rookie, Stathead said. He gave up just two shutouts this season on a team with the best red zone defense in the league.

Potential backup Terell Smith has always been viewed favorably by Eberflus but hasn’t been tested as much as Stevenson. He has appeared in just 389 defensive plays in his career to Stevenson’s 1,193, and has played in just 12 games this year because he was injured at the same time Gordon, Brisker and Stevenson were injured.

What Will You Punish Him For?

There are so many stupid plays and gaffes made every week in the NFL. If you’re going to start benching players for a game at a time, then good luck finding someone who plays flawless ball. Even a few bad plays don’t seem like spare material.

The Bears would voluntarily maim themselves by benching him, and for what purpose?

Stevenson is not a little kid who needs to learn from his mistake. Stevenson clearly feels bad for costing his teammates a loss.

Punishing him even more doesn’t teach him anything, and what good does it actually do to keep him on the sidelines for a game or two and then put him on the field? This is a token punishment anyway. If you believe he should be punished, then it should be a real punishment, or even better a cash fine. Money talks.

Either way, they’d better watch out for this punishment.

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If Eberflus benches Stevenson and they lose to the Cardinals because their bench wasn’t enough to stop Kyler Murray and Marvin Harrison Jr., then it’s not Stevenson’s fault they lost. They might try to twist the situation that way and say that if Stevenson hadn’t deserved the penalty then he would have been playing and they wouldn’t have lost. However, it would really be Eberflus’ mistake to punish a player who already felt bad about the whole situation and then subject his team to a good passer who made a poor pass.

So in this case, they would suffer one defeat last week due to poor play by one player, and then another defeat due to their coach’s knee-jerk reaction.

The Bears continued to use Velus Jones Jr. He smothered punts, ran in circles, dropped down and dropped passes, committed stupid penalties in front of the referee while guarding the punt team, and they eventually had to get rid of him. blocked the opening kickoff. And should Stevenson be benched for one bad play?

See also Shane Waldron

It’s hard enough to win games in the NFL without deliberately weakening your own pass defense, but benching Stevenson wouldn’t be the first mistake this coaching staff has made.

If you’re going to suspend or bench Stevenson for one game (even though he’ll finish the game) then why not suspend offensive coordinator Shane Waldron for one of the worst play calls of all time?

Doug Kramer’s run at the 1-yard line with the Bears trailing 12-7 in the fourth quarter may have been the worst game call in Bears history, or at least since the last bad call he made, or the last one Luke Getsy made. season. It’s likely just ahead of Waldron’s fourth-and-goal option from the half-yard line against the Colts, perhaps just ahead of Getsy’s quarterback sneak on Cole Kmet on fourth-and-1 against Green Bay.

Giving the ball to a center who has never carried the ball in the NFL before, with a full playbook and two good backs available to choose from, certainly represents a more egregious mistake than what Stevenson made.

But you can’t fire the offensive coordinator, especially if you’re doing everything he does right and backing him 100% like Eberflus does.

In that respect, Eberflus’ failure to call a timeout and his failure to protect the sideline before the Hail Mary were two truly stupid mistakes, and he is not suspended.

Or at least it seems so. They keep a lot of things in-house at Halas Hall, so we don’t really know.

Twitter: BearsOnSI

Twitter: BearsOnSI