All the talk following the Tampa Bay Buccaneers loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers was, who will be the Bucs week four starter. As todays game began we learned Ryan “FitzMagic” Fitzpatrick would continue being the starter for the 2-1 Bucs as they face the 2-1 Chicago Bears.
With his three game suspension finally over Jameis Winston watched on from the sideline through the first half. The Bucs top two draft picks Vita Vea and Ronald Jones finally made their season debuts this week. Fifth round pick Justin Watson would also make his season debut following the release of WR Freddie Martino. The NFC North leading Bears looked to really get going and extend their division lead.
Pierre-Paul quietly leading the defensive line by example
Mid way through the first quarter, veteran Jason Pierre-Paul would notch his lead tying 4th sack of the season. Coincidently the man Pierre-Paul is tied with the newly acquired Bear Khalil Mack. With the Bucs re-tooling their defensive line in the offseason, with additions of Pierre-Paul, Vinny Curry and Beau Allen the Bucs have pieces around all-pro Gerald McCoy.
Bucs struggle early
Before the Bucs knew it Mitchell Trubisky had thrown two TD’s against them, but the offense is doing something Bucs fans haven’t seen yet this season, struggle throwing the ball. Fitzpatrick who’s been mostly spot on through three games was only 6 for 10 for 79 yards three minutes into the second period. Trubisky continued finding weaknesses on the Bucs when he tossed a quick pass to Tarik Cohen to give the Bears a 21-3 lead. The Bucs only points came off a 30 yard FG by Chandler Catanzaro to start the second quarter.
Trubisky fires on all cylinders
Heading into the midway point of the second quarter, Trubisky had lit the Bucs defense for four touchdowns. That was the Bears grand total for their first three games. He also rushed for 54 yards, more than the Bucs running backs through the same time frame (Barber 3 for 10 yards, Jones 1 for 5 yards). The Bears QB would add a toss pass to Taylor Gabriel for a three yard score with five minutes left in the half. That touchdown extended the Bears lead to 35-3 over Tampa.
Winston returns
To start the second half, Jameis Winston entered as the new quarterback. Winston went 5 for 6 for 29 yards, all the passes to Adam Humphries except one to Mike Evans before getting his last pass intercepted by Danny Trevathan. Mid throw Mack was able to hit the arm of Winston, which caused the Bucs QB to throw an errant pass that the Bears LB was able to catch. One good thing was near the midway point Winston was able to connect with Cameron Brate on a 16 yard TD pass. With less than a minute on the clock Winston would toss his second INT of the game. While the first one wasn’t his fault, this one was. Aaron Lynch watched Winston’s eyes the whole way and picked off a pass that shouldn’t have been made.
Mike Smith……
One would venture to say, there could be some coaching changes coming for the Bucs defense. Mike Smith has had poorly ranked defenses the last two seasons. He has not had a top 10 defense since coming to the Bucs, and mostly his defenses have had a lot more bad performances than good. If Smith is let go during the bye week, it would not come as a surprise. His team has allowed 40+ points in two out of four games this season.
Final Score
Bears 48-10 Bucs
Next Up:
The Bucs will travel to Atlanta to face the Falcons on 10/14 at 1pm
