Tampa Bay Buccaneers Week Five In-Depth: Chicago Bears

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were unable to secure their fourth win in a row Thursday night in Chicago as they fell 20-19 to the Bears. With their second loss on national television, the Buccaneers only scored one touchdown thanks to Mike Evans.

 

Offense

Tom Brady threw for 253-yards and one touchdown. The rest of the scoring came off the foot of Ryan Succop. Ronald Jones II was spectacular and ran for 106-yards. Rookie wide receiver Tyler Johnson had a decent game with four catches for 61 yards, leading all receivers on the night. Rob Gronkowski was second on the receiving list with 52 yards and averaged 17.3-yards per reception.

Mike Evans had the Buccaneers’ only touchdown; he also had a mere 8.2-yards per reception. Evans’ lack of yards could be attributed to his ankle injury he suffered last week against the Chargers.

The offensive line didn’t help the Buccaneers much Thursday either. They allowed Brady to get sacked three times and hit an additional eight times. Plus they caused a lot of sloppy offensive plays that hurt them later on in the game.

Defense

The Buccaneers’ defense looked human for the second straight game. Their zone coverage suffered thanks to quick intermediate throws. Tampa Bay’s defense was able to accumulate three sacks, but it clearly didn’t help.

The Buccaneers also lost Vita Vea for the rest of the year with a broken ankle. Like O.J. Howard, the Buccaneers lose a key asset to their team.

The defense had some solid plays when it mattered. Carlton Davis III had the only interception of the game. The Buccaneers’ defense has looked great for most of the season, however, these last two games they game up some game changing plays. The defense continues to dominate against the run, only allowing Chicago 35 rushing yards.

Stats

The Buccaneers led in passing yards with 233 and rushing yards with 106. Compare that to the Bears’ 208 passing yards and 35 rushing yards.

Tampa Bay committed 11 penalties, six of them came from the lackluster offensive line in the third quarter. The Bears on the other hand only had six penalties. Tampa Bay’s biggest problem since last season has been penalties and the trend is continuing even with Brady.

Da Bears!

Nick Foles looked great on Thursday night thanks to the Buccaneers’ defense inability to cover the wheel route and quick outs which allowed Foles to control the game. Foles had 243-yards and one touchdown. Running back David Montgomery had only 29-yards, but he had the Bears’ only touchdown.

Chicago wide receiver Allen Robinson caught 10 balls for 90 yards.

Overall

The Buccaneers have a week to work things out before they play the 4-0 Green Bay Packers. Losing this game against Chicago really hurt them, as they would have been 4-1 going into the Packers game.

Tampa Bay must iron out their kinks and show the NFL that they are the team everyone thought they would be. So far they have yet to put four whole quarters together.

Being plagued by injuries doesn’t help much either, but they have to work with what they have.