The Chicago Bears are gearing up for their first preseason game on Sunday, Aug. 10th as they face the Miami Dolphins at Soldier Field. Prior to the first game, the two teams will have a joint practice later this week.<\/p>\n
While Bears practice intensified<\/a> at Halas on Tuesday, one player who\u2019s looking for extra motivation from last season is third year defensive back Tyrique Stevenson<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like this is a big year. I feel like last year was a big year, my rookie year, every year is a big year. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to come play in the NFL and every down counts. Every year is a big year; every down is big to me,\u201d Stevenson said<\/a> following practice from Halas Hall.<\/p>\n Stevenson had a roller-coaster 2024 sophomore campaign under then-head coach Matt Eberflus<\/a>. Stevenson finished the season with two interceptions, 78 tackles and 12 passes defensed. The one play that will remain with the third-year corner is the Week 8 matchup<\/a> against the Washington Commanders. During the final seconds of the game, Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels<\/a> threw a game-winning Hail Mary touchdown to Noah Brown<\/a> to seal the victory.<\/p>\n [Bears camp report: Ben Johnson demands physicality, gets it in intense practice]<\/a><\/p>\n Prior to the final play of the game, Stevenson had a \u2018lack of focus\u2019<\/a> that led to the ultimate winning play. From that game on, there\u2019s been a direct focus on what he\u2019s learning to carry over from last year to this season.<\/p>\n \u201cKeep my same aggression and my mentality when I\u2019m in the game. Put behind me? Pretty much anything that shows negative on my resume,\u201d Stevenson said. \u201cThat\u2019s technique, game situations, that comes with any little thing. Not hustling, not showing effort that I need to on certain plays \u2014 anything like that I want to put behind me.\u201d<\/p>\n While Stevenson is looking ahead to 2025, Johnson admires his work ethic and understands how the University of Miami corner is approaching things in a positive manner for the Bears.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he\u2019s an awesome person. That\u2019s what stands out first and foremost. He\u2019s got quite a personality. He\u2019s good to talk to,\u201d Johnson said about Stevenson. \u201cI think he works hard. Sometimes he talks a little bit too much and you\u2019ve got to tell him to be a little bit quiet, but he\u2019s a guy that you want on your side.<\/p>\n \u201cHe understands this is a big year for him. It really is. Going into year three is kind of make it or break it for a lot of guys. He understands that and I think he\u2019s approaching this the right way. The competition that we\u2019ve had in that room has been really good for not only him, but the rest of the guys. I\u2019m excited for the direction he\u2019s headed right now.\u201d<\/p>\n With new Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen<\/a> manning the \u2018Monsters of the Midway,\u2019 Stevenson is hoping to fly around in the secondary and make plays with fellow teammates Jaylon Johnson<\/a>, Kyler Gordon<\/a> and Jaquan Brisker<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Chicago Bears are gearing up for their first preseason game on Sunday, Aug. 10th as they face…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":266103,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2070],"tags":[374,1035,692,391,2493,8897,7,6,1471],"class_list":{"0":"post-266102","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-bears","8":"tag-bears","9":"tag-ben-johnson","10":"tag-chicago","11":"tag-chicago-bears","12":"tag-chicagobears","13":"tag-dennis-allen","14":"tag-football","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-tyrique-stevenson"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114981352756345758","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266102\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/266103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}