CHICAGO -- Tyrique Stevenson had things turned up to 11 when he took an NFL field for the first time Saturday in the Bears' 23-17 win over the Tennessee Titans at Soldier Field.
With electricity coursing through his body, Stevenson took the field looking to make a big play on his first series. He craved it.
Instead, the Bears' rookie cornerback got out over his skis. The Bears were in Cover 1 with Stevenson lined up across from Titans receiver Chris Moore. Moore went to run an over route but stopped as quarterback Malik Willis scrambled out of the pocket and decided to turn his route upfield. Stevenson lost track of Moore, and Willis hit him for a 30-yard gain on the first play of the game.
"I feel like I was really more juiced up than comfortable on the first few plays," Stevenson said after the game. "Then, really after that play, it just made me realize like, you got to lock in, you got to focus, you got to do the small things right.”
He did just that.
Stevenson played with his hair on fire for the rest of his time on turf Saturday.
The rookie cornerback finished the day with seven tackles and a near interception. Stevenson's best play of the day came when he immediately diagnosed a quick screen, flew past the blocker, and blew up the play for a short loss.
If you take out the nervy start that led to a 30-yard completion, Stevenson's debut was everything the Bears wanted to see. But in all honesty, his ability to flush that mistake and still deliver the goods was his most impressive play of the day.
“It's the game of football. Went out there with the confidence I always keep," Stevenson said. "The game pretty much went fast. I had a couple mistakes I should clean up. Other than that, I went out there and pretty much felt comfortable.
“I didn’t think it was going to happen that fast," Stevenson said of the big play he surrendered. "Even with it being that first play or that second to last play, you just got to always have that mentality. Next play. The next play is the best play. I live by that. With that happening in the first quarter, it was really just [chalk it up] to a rookie mistake, keep my eyes on my man and make sure if I get this opportunity again that I come through with it.”
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Saturday was a big opportunity for Stevenson.
It appeared like he had hold of the No. 2 cornerback job when the Bears broke camp for the summer. But Stevenson has been splitting reps with fellow rookie Terell Smith in training camp, and that battle likely will go down to the wire.
With Smith missing Saturday's game with an injury, Stevenson had a golden opportunity to get a leg up in the competition heading into joint practices with the Indianapolis Colts.
Stevenson and Smith are close, so there was no added pressure Saturday. Stevenson said Smith was hyping him up after every tackle he made. He knows the battle for the second boundary corner spot will go on throughout the season. It's not going to be won or lost on Aug. 12.
CHICAGO BEARS
Second-year cornerback Kyler Gordon took his lumps last season. The Bears asked him to play inside and in the slot. Gordon admits things moved fast on him for a while, and teams took advantage of that.
When told that Stevenson said his juice was pumping too fast on the first play, Gordon smiled. He knows the feeling.
But he has also seen Stevenson take his lumps from DJ Moore, Chase Claypool, and Darnell Mooney in training camp and quickly respond. The rookie has gone toe-to-toe with Moore numerous times during camp and won his fair share of battles. He and Claypool got into a heated back-and-forth on Wednesday in camp when Claypool tossed him aside in individual drills and was called for offensive pass interference.
As he lay on the ground, Stevenson yelled at Claypool to "run a f--king route! Come on, man, run a f--king route!"
Stevenson never blinks and never backs down. So what Gordon saw Saturday is exactly what he expected.
“Nothing fazes him," Gordon said. "He showed the same thing during training camp the whole entire time. He goes out there, and he already knows what it is. He’s going to go out there, process it. He knows it’s just the first game. He’s going to get back on track like he always does.
"He’s smooth and I don’t have any worries. I don’t think anyone has any worries about him, so he’s going to do his thing.”
What Stevenson does on the field -- the sticky coverage, sure tackling, short memory -- that's fueled by an unflappable confidence. That confidence is what allowed him to steady the ship Saturday and take one crucial step toward winning the starting job he covets.
