Buccaneers Fall to Bears on Last-Second Field Goal

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-6) forced five turnovers against the Chicago Bears (7-2) on Sunday night but a 38-yard field goal by Cairos Santos as time expired gave the Bears a 27-24 win, apping the Buccaneers’ two-game winning streak.

Despite trailing the Bears 17-6 at halftime, the Buccaneers pulled to within four points, 17-13, with 11:37 left in the third quarter after a 2-yard touchdown by running back Bucky Irving. After the two teams traded punts on their next four drives, linebacker Alex Anzalone seemingly gave Tampa Bay the momentum with the Buccaneers’ third interception of the game off of a deflection and returned the ball to the Bear’s 37-yard-line.

But just two plays later, Chicago’s Jaylon Johnson stepped in front of a Baker Mayfield pass intended for tight end Cade Otton, and returned it for a 67-yard touchdown to give the Bears a 24-17 lead with 3:39 left in the third quarter. 

Despite punting on their next possession, Tampa Bay forced another Chicago punt at the end of the third quarter, and cut the lead to 24-16 with 11:26 left in the fourth quarter on a Chase McLaughlin 35-yard field goal.

Just a minute later, Tampa Bay forced its fifth turnover of the game on a Luther Burden III fumble and eventually tied the game at 24-24 with 2:51 left in the game on a Mayfield 6-yard touchdown run, including another run by Mayfield for the two-point conversion.

With less than three minutes left in the game, Williams led the Bears on an eight-play, 49-yard drive that ended with Santos’ 38-yard field goal as time expired to snap Tampa Bay’s two-game winning streak.

The Bears got off to a quick start in the first half with two touchdowns on their first two drives of the game. 

Behind Williams, Chicago didn’t waste any time by driving 53 yards in a little more than five minutes on the opening drive to take a 7-0 lead with 9:38 left in the first quarter on Williams’ 9-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Rome Odunze.

After the Bears forced a three-and-out on the Buccaneers’ first drive of the game, Williams extended the lead to 14-0 on a 56-yard strike to Luther Burden III with 6:00 left in the first quarter.

On Tampa Bay’s ensuing drive, the Buccaneers converted a first down on a fourth-and-2, but were held to a McLaughlin 27-yard field goal to cut the lead to 14-3 with 14:07 left in the first half. 

Chicago would drive into Tampa Bay territory on its next drive but Tyreek Smith intercepted a Wlliams pass at his own 3-yard-line with 8:12 left in the second quarter. Although the Buccaneers would turnover the ball on downs on their next drive, cornerback Zyon McCollum intercepted another Williams pass at the Tampa Bay 18 with seven minutes left in the first half, but couldn’t convert a first down and were forced to punt with 5:30 left in the second quarter.

The Bears extended the lead to 17-3 with 3:02 left in the first half on a 25-yard field goal by Santos. Although Chicago defensive back Cam Lewis intercepted a Mayfield pass with 43 seconds left in the first half, McCollum registered his second interception of the game one snap later at the Chicago 43.

McLaughlin then cut the Bears’ lead to 17-6 with a 21-yard field goal as time expired in the first half.

Despite completing just seven passes in his first two games since returning from a dislocated thumb on his throwing hand, Mayfield completed 18-of-32 of his passes for 243 yards in the loss. Irving, who had rushed for 276 combined yards in the last two games, was held to 97 yards on 20 carries against the Bears.

The Buccaneers will have a bye in Week 10 before taking on the Detroit Lions (6-2) on the road on Nov. 22.