There was no magical finish this time, no dramatic comeback after three straight, down-to-the-wire wins to start the season, no last-second Houdini-style escape orchestrated by Tampa Bay Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield.

This time around, the hole the Bucs dug early for themselves – 14-0 before they could blink and 24-3 deficit late in the first half – proved just too deep to climb out of.

The 14 points allowed off of turnovers – the most grievous being a blocked Riley Dixon punt returned for a touchdown to end the Bucs’ first drive of the game – were simply too much to overcome in a 31-25 loss to the defending Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles Sunday in the wilting, 100-degree heat of Raymond James Stadium. 

For the record, it was the second straight game Dixon had a punt blocked and returned for a touchdown – nearly costing the Bucs the victory against the Jets, and following a block of a Dixon punt the week before against Houston leading to a field goal.

“It’s something we’ll figure out in the meetings,” said Bucs head coach Todd Bowles said. “We’ll look at the whole operation – how we’re doing it and why we’re doing it, and if we’re doing it with the right people and the right scheme. That’s three weeks in a row something went wrong and we’ll get that fixed.”

But here’s the thing. Though they lost the game, you could say the Bucs passed the test.

They didn’t do it with flying colors or booming cannons. But they came away with the knowledge that they faced their first truly tough opponent of 2025 – in a battle of unbeatens – and nearly pulled off the improbable after such a  horrendous start. 

If this were a boxing match, the Bucs were knocked down and flat on their backs in the early rounds, only to fight back into contention with a flurry of haymakers that left the reigning champs from Philly dazed and the outcome unexpectedly in doubt in the late going. And that says something not only about the team’s resilience, but its potential – if it can only start cleaning up the mistakes that continue to undercut their efforts.

Bear in mind that their first three teams they beat sported a combined record of 1-8 prior to Sunday, so there was a question of just how much to read into the Bucs’ 3-0 record against the Falcons, Texans and Jets. But for all their miscues Sunday, the team provided a convincing answer.

They did it with a high-pressure defense that completely shut down Eagles star quarterback Jalen Hurts and his high-octane offense in the second half, allowing just one yard in total offense and limiting Hurts to no completions in eight attempts, and a mere 130 passing yards in all. 

They did it by outgaining the Eagles 277-33 in the second half, outscoring them 17-7 and forcing Philadelphia to punt on six of its final possessions of the game – all while netting a season-high 376 yards of offense.

 They did it with a pair of 70-plus-yard touchdown passes from Mayfield in the third quarter – the first a 77-yarder to rookie wide receiver Emeka Egbuka and the second for 72 yards to tailback Bucky Irving, pulling the Bucs to within 31-20. For Irving, the TD reception took a huge weight of his shoulders, considering his fumble on the previous drive led to a six-yard Saquon Barkley touchdown – off a fake “tush-push” play – that put the Eagles ahead 31-20 and appeared to have killed Tampa Bay’s momentum.

They did it with a pair of monumental field goals from revitalized kicker Chase McLaughlin – a 65-yarder to close the first half with a 24-6 deficit and a shred of hope, and a 58-yarder that brought the Bucs to within striking distance at 31-23 early in the fourth quarter (by the way, making McLaughlin only the fourth player in NFL history to make multiple field goals of 58 yards or more in the same game).

And they did it without the often game-changing services of All-Pro wide receiver Mike Evans, out for the next few weeks recovering from a hamstring injury. 

The fact is, the Bucs still found themselves on the precipice of yet another comeback win with 7:57 left to play when Mayfield moved the offense to a first and 10 at the Philadelphia 11. 

Still down by eight points, Mayfield dodged a heavy rush in his signature duck-and-dodge style, extended the play by moving to his right and tried to connect in the corner of the end zone with receiver Chris Godwin – back in action after a serious ankle injury suffered last season. It was a move he quickly regretted. The ball appeared to have been tipped and was picked off by Eagles linebacker Jihad Campbell, effectively spoiling the Bucs’ comeback.

“Obviously in the red zone you have to be careful with the ball,” he said. “It kind of just slipped out of my hands. I don’t know if it got tipped or what. But (you need to have) extra precaution down there. We’re driving down and it’s a one-score game. We fight … the standard is we don’t stop fighting until the game’s over. That’s the positive take out of it. But the negative is directly related. We talked about starting fast and we quite obviously did the opposite today.”

The Bucs did have one more chance after the defense forced a three-and-out punt on Philadelphia’s next drive. That gave Mayfield and Co. one last chance to score after taking possession at their 22 with 6:07 left to play. But the drive stalled with a fourth and 9 at the Eagles’ 37, and ended when Mayfield’s short completion to tight end Cade Otten netted only two yards.

The Eagles took over and sealed their victory – avenging a 31-16 drubbing in Tampa last year – by taking a safety to run out of the clock.

Bowles was pleased with the fight of his team, but not its habit of putting itself in unnecessary jams week after week. “The fight you’re going to have every week, but you can’t fight and get behind the eight ball against good teams and expect to win,” he said. “We’re always going to have fight, but we just have to clean up mistakes now. It’s getting to that point where we have to cut them down.”

Those three turnovers – including the first lost fumble and Mayfield’s first interception of the season – overshadowed numerous highlights. Egbuka logged his first career 100-yard receiving effort (four catches for 101 yards) and his fourth touchdown through four games are the most ever by a Buc rookie. And he is just the fourth rookie since the 1970 merger to record 14-plus receptions, 280-plus receiving yards, and four or more touchdowns in their first four games.

Irving also surpassed 100 receiving yards (five for 102) and on Sunday became the first Buc ever to amass 100-plus receiving yards and 50-plus rushing yards in the same game. 

But what the team achieved defensively after its slow start – allowing Hurts to move at will and throw a pair of short, under-handed flip tosses for touchdowns to tight end Dallas Goedart – was just as noteworthy. The unit, led by nose tackle Vita Vea’s pair of sacks and two quarterback hits, limited last season’s leading rusher Barkley to just 43 yards on 19 carries and held standout receiver A.J. Brown to two receptions for seven yards.

“They didn’t really give us a chance to blitz, so we just played tight coverage across the board and the D-line had a good game up front, and we were able to slow it down,” said Bucs linebacker Lavonte David.

But now comes the challenge, heading to next week’s road game in Seattle, of cutting down on mistakes and not digging themselves a hole at the outset.

“I’m never worried about us fighting back and being in the football game,” David said. “It’s just the point with us of giving the (other) team points and starting behind all the time. That’s the stuff that gets us beat. And for us to be the talented team that we are, and the good football team that we say we are, we can’t be doing those types of things against a good football team.”

Even with the mistakes and their first loss Sunday, the Bucs passed their first real test of the season to prove they are one of them.