Todd Bowles didn’t need long to identify why the Buccaneers walked out of Chicago with a 27-24 loss on Sunday night. Five takeaways should have been enough to tilt the game Tampa Bay’s way. Instead, the Bucs let the moment slip.
“It’s a good question. We gotta capitalize on them.
We gotta capitalize on them. We gotta score points, and we can’t give them the ball back.
And gotta be better on third down on both sides of the ball.”
That was the theme of Bowles’ postgame comments: missed chances, too many mistakes, and a game that got away despite the defense creating extra possessions. He said the Bucs “busted” on one key play and added, “Simple.
We busted. Shouldn’t happen.”
Bowles also addressed Baker Mayfield’s interception returned for a touchdown, saying the quarterback locked in on his target too early.
“He had his mind made up. Probably should have thrown it somewhere else.
Obviously, it’s easy to say in hindsight, but you know, we don’t like turnovers. We’ve been doing a good job of not turning it over.
We can’t turn it over. He knows that.
He understands.”
The Bears came out fast, and Bowles said Tampa Bay spent the opening stretch trying to settle itself. He described the first two drives as a shaky start before the defense and the rest of the team found a better rhythm.
“I think we had to settle down. I thought everybody was a little antsy starting the game, the first two drives, and after that, once we settled down, I thought we played well.
They played some pretty good football from there on out until the last, obviously, the last play. But you know, they came out real hot, and I thought we were on our heels a little bit.
And then the younger guys settled down a little bit, and we started playing football.”
Bowles said Zyon McCollum battled through an uneven start and made his presence felt later in the game. He also pointed to the team’s broader turnover emphasis, saying the Bucs have to cash in when they create those chances.
“He fought, like you said. You know, the biggest thing we talk about is turnovers every day. We get the turnovers, we got to cash them in, and the Lion got two of them.”
Offensively, Bowles said the Bucs need more than Bucky Irving carrying the load. He praised Irving’s role but made clear the offense can’t lean on the run alone.
“Like I said, it’s going to take everybody. We’re not going to be able to run the ball and win ball games.
We’re going to have to throw it. We’re going to have to catch it.
I thought we dropped some easy balls early on as well. That contributed to a lot of things, but we kind of chipped our way and got forward, our way back into the ball game.
And everybody’s got to contribute. I thought the field position and special teams.
I thought they won that. He was returning the ball pretty good.
They were starting with pretty good field position there, so that was a problem. Defense.
We started slow the first two series. I mean, they got five turnovers.
To their credit, they came back and played. Offense fought back and cashed it in.
But we got to do more. We got to make less mistakes.”
Bowles also explained the decision to take field goals on two drives inside the 10-yard line in the first half. He said the goal was to leave the half with points and keep the game within reach.
“Right before the half, obviously we’re getting the ball back in the second half and want to get points. We thought we could turn that into ten.
We get three before the half, and then we get seven at the end of the half. We were right back in the ballgame, and we kind of cut it to 17-13 and got back in the ball game.”
The Bucs also had five false starts, but Bowles said it wasn’t a communication issue.
“It wasn’t a communication thing. We just got to hold our water.”
Asked about a defensive player’s performance, Bowles said he would need to review the tape before drawing conclusions.
“I mean, I got to watch the tape. I didn’t see it.
I didn’t specifically watch him against our offense. Gotta watch the tape and see.
I know he got a sack in there somewhere, but I didn’t really look at him to see how he did or didn’t do against our offense.”
Bowles said Rueben Bain is starting to show more as the season goes on, though he still wants cleaner containment from the defense as a whole.
“He’s playing hard, and he’s playing faster. We still got to clean up some things defensively from a containment standpoint-not just Reuben, but everybody on the outside.
But he’s playing more physical. He’s playing faster.
He’s making his impact known.”
He closed by stressing that the Bucs are focused on themselves, not the rest of the division, and said the upcoming week off should help a sore team reset.
“We’re trying to take care of ourselves. We’re not worried about any other team in our division right now.
We know if we take care of us, we’re going to be fine. And we still feel that way, and we think that way.
We’ve been playing some good football of late. We made too many errors today.
We just got to hone in. We get a week off.
A lot of people are sore. We got to hone in and come back.
And we got to take it, and we got to finish this thing.”
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