Todd Bowles didn’t sugarcoat anything after the Buccaneers let a game slip away on Sunday Night Football.
Tampa Bay lost 27-24 to the Chicago Bears despite forcing five turnovers, and the head coach made it clear the defense had done its job. The problem, as Bowles saw it, was the offense failing to cash in.
“It’s a good question. We’ve gotta capitalize on them. We’ve got to score points and we can’t give them the ball back.”
That was Bowles’ answer when asked how a team can lose a game with five takeaways. It was also a pretty direct shot at Baker Mayfield, who was responsible for the giveaways that swung the night. Mayfield threw two interceptions, including a pick-six that ended up being the difference.
“He had his mind made up. Probably should have thrown somewhere else...
We can’t turn it over. He knows that, he understands that.”
The frustration is easy to understand. Bowles’ defense has been one of the league’s best all season, and Sunday was another reminder of just how dominant that side of the ball can be. Tampa Bay leads the NFL in takeaways and interceptions, and it also owns the league’s No. 1 rushing defense.
That kind of unit should give a team a real edge. Instead, the Buccaneers are stuck with an offense that keeps dragging them down.
Now comes the bye week, and with it, a chance to reset. Tampa Bay is off in Week 10, giving the coaching staff two weeks to sort through the mess on offense.
Zac Robinson has work to do. The Buccaneers have enough talent to be better than this, but their passing game has been the least productive in the NFL, and that has to be addressed.
Mayfield has his own issues to clean up, too. He signed a franchise-record $165 million contract extension in the offseason, but his play has been a major disappointment. The turnovers have piled up, the accuracy has been shaky, and the decision-making has not been good enough for a franchise quarterback.
Right now, the pairing of Mayfield and Robinson is not working. And for a defense playing at this level, that’s a waste Tampa Bay can’t afford to keep making.
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 🡒]
Buccaneers Secondary Suddenly Faces A Huge Test Without Antoine Winfield Jr
The Buccaneers secondary took a sudden hit in the second quarter against the Bears when Antoine Winfield Jr. went down with an ankle injury and left the game after making an early impact. Before exiting, the safety had already logged four tackles and a pass defended, the kind of all-around contribution Tampa Bay leans on from one of its most dependable defenders.
Winfield was initially listed as questionable to return, but his status was later changed to out for the rest of the game, leaving the Buccaneers to adjust on the fly in a spot where communication and range matter most. However the rest of the afternoon unfolded, his absence immediately raised the stakes for a defense that has little margin for error when one of its key playmakers is sidelined. [Read more 🡒]