The ramifications of last week’s Hail Mary debacle against Washington cost Tyrique Stevenson a start in Sunday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals.

Whether that also cost the Bears a second loss depends on how they adjust with another member of their secondary on the sidelines.

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported On Sunday, Stevenson will be on the bench and Terell Smith will make his sixth career start. The Tribune’s Dan Wiederer had previously reported that everything was moving in this direction.

The bottom line for the Bears is that they will once again be without a large portion of their secondary, possibly two of the starting five or even three.

Jaquan Brisker is still out with a concussion. Cornerback Kyler Gordon is likely to return this week from a hamstring injury.

However, he had not practiced since suffering the injury on Oct. 13 in London against Jacksonville and then practiced as a limited participant on Friday. So he’ll come into this game with little real practice participation in a week where everyone had one less day of practice because Matt Eberflus decided to take a walk on Wednesday because he had too many injuries on the offensive line.

Rapoport’s report does not mention the extent of the sanction, or whether this means Stevenson will be inactive or simply not start. Stevenson was scheduled to start the opener this year but did not, although he arrived later to play almost the entire game. Eberflus declined to explain why that happened Friday when asked about it.

Stevenson said he was cheering on Bears fans with the Hail Mary pass initiated and had his back to the play. He then ran into the scrum in front of the goal line trying to tip the ball when his duty on the play was to cover the back player in the end zone. He tipped the ball back directly toward the player he was supposed to be covering, Noah Brown, and the catch resulted in Washington’s victory.

The injuries in the secondary began for the Bears in their game against Carolina on Oct. 6, when Brisker suffered his third concussion in three years. He remains out and Elijah Hicks will return to his safety position on Sunday.

“It’s really just the symptom part,” Eberflus said. “That’s really what it is. Again, you’ve made progress. You’ve participated in the meetings, you’ve participated in the tour and you’ve addressed those things and then you have those symptoms.

“Again, it’s always going to be about his safety and his health and where he’s at. Jaquan brings a lot of passion and energy to our team and certainly to our defense. He was having a really good year before this. His health and safety “It comes first and we want to make sure we do a good job with that first and then he’ll get that passion and energy back like he always does.”

Even with all the injuries to their secondary, the Bears continue to lead the NFL in passer rating with 76.2, just ahead of Detroit (77.2). They are also number one in touchdown percentage allowed in the red zone and in fewest points allowed inside the red zone. Until the Hail Mary pass, they had allowed just four field goals to the NFL’s hottest offense and did so with their primary pass rusher, Montez Sweat, able to play only half of the game’s snaps due to a shin injury. .

Over the past few weeks, players have continued to support Stevenson and express empathy.

“At the end of the day, he already feels in a terrible position, so there’s not much to say,” cornerback Jaylon Johnson said. “I just have to get out here. We have a lot to say. We have to prepare. Tell him he’s still going to play.

“At the end of the day we have to continue to take it in the right direction and bring it back so we can win these games.”

In case they need additional help in the secondary, they have elevated rookie Reddy Steward from the practice squad for this game.

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