The Tampa Bay Buccaneers hosted the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday afternoon, and it ended up being quite a competitive game as the Vikings picked up a 23-16 victory.

With that said, let's take a look at the top five takeaways from this Week 3 loss for the Buccaneers.

Without a doubt, the biggest takeaway from this game was the fact that quarterback Baker Mayfield was injured late in the game and did not return.

Throughout the game, Mayfield was doing everything he could to give the Buccaneers a chance to win, and on the second-to-last drive, Mayfield extended the play on fourth and 13 and ended up hitting his right thumb on a helmet, which resulted in him being out the rest of the game, which required rookie quarterback Jalon Daniels to step in.

Moving forward, there will be a lot of attention paid to Mayfield and his status is, because if he cannot play, the Buccaneers could be in a lot of trouble, as putting pressure on Daniels to get this team on track is a lot for a rookie to handle.

On defense, one of the bigger takeaways was that the defense was able to generate some decent pressure throughout the game.

In terms of that pressure, the Buccaneers were able to sack Vikings quarterback Kyler Murray three times while hitting him a total of six times. Tampa Bay also was able to dial up some unique blitzes that gave Minnesota trouble, especially in the first half, because that pressure was constantly getting to Murray.

As the Buccaneers head into next week, if they can continue to generate pressure like this whether it be from the front or through using blitzes, this defense may be able to become one of the more consistent units in the NFL.

The next takeaway comes on the offensive side, and it is the fact that the offensive line might be a real problem.

During this game, the Buccaneers' offensive line really struggled against the pressure that the Vikings brought, as the Tampa Bay offensive line allowed the quarterbacks to be sacked six times and hit a total of 12 times. Moving forward, this offensive line has to be better in pass protection, because if they cannot, this offense may really struggle to get on track.

So, as the Buccaneers move on from this game, this offensive line needs to take a significant step forward in pass protection, otherwise this offense may not able to get in the rhythm they want to in the passing game because there will not be time to get the ball out.

Getting back to the defensive side, another takeaway was that the Buccaneers rush defense was great and the Vikings could not get much going on the ground throughout the day.

Over the course of the game, Minnesota had 23 rush attempts for 78 yards and averaged 3.4 yards per attempt, which showed how great Tampa Bay was on the defensive side. No matter what the Vikings tried to do on the ground, the Buccaneers had an answer, which is a great place to be, as it can make offenses one-dimensional.

With that said, if the Buccaneers can replicate this performance from their rush defense, it is very possible that this defense could put itself in a great position on third downs with offenses potentially being in longer yardage situations based on Tampa Bay's ability to shut down the run game.

Starting on the offensive side, one key takeaway is the fact that the Buccaneers' run game needs to be a lot more productive.

In the game, Tampa Bay had 21 rushes for 57 yards and averaged 2.7 yards per carry, which was not ideal, especially against the pressure that the Vikings' defensive coordinator, Brian Flores, likes to bring. In particular, running back Bucky Irving had a tough day as he had 15 carries for 46 yards and averaged 3.1 yards per carry.

As a result of not being able to rely on the game, the Buccaneers had a lot of trouble consistently staying ahead of the sticks.

So, as the Buccaneers move forward, they must figure out a way to be able to run the ball a lot more effectively, otherwise, this offense may continue to struggle.

The final takeaway from this game was that Buccaneers had one special teams mishap that made the difference on the scoreboard.

During this game, the special teams mishap occurred in the first quarter as the Buccneers allowed an 86-yard punt return touchdown to Vikings wide receiver Myles Price which gave Minnesota an early 7-0 lead.

Against teams such as the Vikings with a solid head coach like Kevin O'Connell, head coach Todd Bowles cannot allow his team to have issues on special teams, so this is something that must get better otheriwise there could be more issues like this one.

Moving forward, it will be interesting to see if the Buccaneers can fix their special teams, or if there are issues in the future that potentially cost this team key games throughout the season.