The NFC South flipped again on Sunday night, and Tampa Bay was the team left staring up at the rest of the division.
The Buccaneers had climbed to the top spot after Carolina’s loss earlier in the day, but that stay at No. 1 didn’t last long. Tampa Bay’s loss to the Chicago Bears sent the division lead back to the Panthers, who sit at 3-5.
The Saints are right there too after their own win, also at 3-5, though Carolina owns the tiebreaker. Atlanta dropped to 3-6, which leaves the Falcons behind Tampa Bay in the standings because the Bucs hold the head-to-head edge.
So even with the standings bunched up, the division is still wide open. Tampa Bay, Carolina, New Orleans and Atlanta are all still in the mix, and the race remains tight enough that one good run could change everything.
Heading into Monday night’s game between the second-seeded Minnesota Vikings and the AFC-leading Buffalo Bills, the NFC playoff board looks like this:
- San Francisco 49ers (7-1)
- Minnesota Vikings (6-1) Monday Night Football
- New York Giants (5-2-1)
- Carolina Panthers (3-5, 1-1 NFCS)
- Chicago Bears (7-2)
- Detroit Lions (6-2)
- Green Bay Packers (6-3)
- Seattle Seahawks (5-4, 2-1 NFCW)
- Los Angeles Rams (5-4, 0-2 NFCW)
- Dallas Cowboys (4-5)
- New Orleans Saints (3-5, 0-1 NFCS)
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-6, win over ATL, 3-3 NFC)
- Atlanta Falcons (3-6, loss to TB, 3-3 NFC)
- Arizona Cardinals (3-6, 2-5 NFC)
- Washington Commanders (2-5-1)
- Philadelphia Eagles (2-7)
In Other News...
Baker Mayfields Turnover Night Made This Bears Loss Sting Even More
Caleb Williams and Baker Mayfield turned a Bears-Buccaneers matchup into a turnover-heavy afternoon, with the two quarterbacks combining for six interceptions in a game that still somehow stayed tight all the way through. Chicago and Tampa Bay traded mistakes, but the Bears were able to keep enough of their footing to leave with a narrow victory in a game that never felt clean for either offense.
Mayfields rough night only added to the frustration for Tampa Bay, especially because the Buccaneers had chances to make the Bears pay for their own errors. Instead, the turnovers kept swinging the momentum back and forth, and Chicago did just enough in the closing stretch to survive the chaos and finish off the win. [Read more 🡒]
Buccaneers Wasted A Rare Edge And Now The Offense Is Under Fire
The Buccaneers came out of Chicago with a loss they could not afford, falling 27-24 to the Bears and slipping to 3-6 despite a defense that repeatedly handed them chances to take control. Tampa Bay forced five turnovers and still managed only 10 points off those takeaways, a wasted edge that made the afternoon feel like a missed opportunity from the opening quarter onward.
Bucky Irving gave the Bucs a spark with two touchdowns in his hometown, and Jamel McCollum added two interceptions as part of a defense that did its job and then some. The problem was everything around it, from an offense that never fully cashed in to the decisions that left points on the table, leaving Todd Bowles and Zac Robinson facing a familiar kind of scrutiny as the season keeps slipping away. [Read more 🡒]
Todd Bowles Just Put Tampa Bays Biggest Problem In Focus
The Buccaneers left Chicago with a familiar kind of frustration, one that made Todd Bowles postgame message hard to miss. Tampa Bays defense did its part by creating extra chances, but the offense could not turn those takeaways into enough points, and the result was a loss that felt like a missed opportunity more than a simple setback. Bowles made clear afterward that the issue was not on the defensive side, where the unit continues to give the team a chance to win.
Baker Mayfields two interceptions, including one returned for a touchdown, only sharpened the concern around an offense that has not matched the standard set by the defense. The Buccaneers now head into their bye week with a problem that is easy to identify and harder to fix, because the talent is there but the execution has not been. For a team trying to stay in the race, the next stretch is less about what the defense can do and more about whether the offense can finally meet it halfway. [Read more 🡒]