The Buccaneers were looking for a win against Nick Foles and the Chicago Bears but fell just short.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers headed to the windy city to face the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field on Thursday night looking to keep their win streak alive. Tom Brady had come off a come-from-behind win over the LA Chargers last Sunday in a game where he became the oldest quarterback to throw five touchdowns in a game.
That performance earned him the NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors and he was looking to keep it going, unfortunately, the Bucs went into Week 5 banged up with a lot of injuries on offense. OJ Howard was out for the rest of the season and Chris Godwin was out of the offensive lineup, as well as several others.
Tom Brady was also facing a familiar face in Nick Foles who is known for beating him and the Patriots in Super Bowl 52 with the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Buccaneers got the first possession of the game and in typical Tom Brady fashion, he led his team down the field but came up just short of getting the games first touchdown, they opted for a field goal and Ryan Succop kicked a 39-yard field goal to make it 3-0 for Tampa Bay.
With 3:30 minutes left in the first quarter, Carlton Davis picked off Foles for an interception and it would lead to a Mike Evans touchdown when he caught a two-yard touchdown pass to make it 10-0 for the Bucs. It took five plays from the interception to get the game’s first touchdown.
After another stop for the Buccaneers defense, the Bucs had a chance to increase their lead, and after another failed attempt to score a touchdown and Ryan Succop would once again come up clutch kicking a 35-yard field goal this time to make it 13-0.
The Bears responded on the next possession when David Montgomery would catch a three-yard touchdown to make it 13-7. We jump to 90 seconds left in the half the Bucs would end up fumbling the football and would give the Bears a chance to take the lead before halftime.
They made it happen with 36 seconds left in the half when Jimmy Graham caught a 12-yard touchdown to take a 14-13 lead. The half finished on that score and both teams went to the locker room.
The Bucs would regain the lead on their first possession of the second half when once again Ryan Succop came up big kicking a 46 yarder to take a 16-14 lead. The third quarter would end on that score and we enter the fourth with a game so wide open we didn’t know who would win.
The Bears went back on offense but the Bucs defense was standing tall doing a good job at limiting the Chicago offense. Cairo Santos would end up kicking a 47-yard field goal to make it 17-16 for the Bears.
It was almost the same story for the Bucs on offense as the Bears defense was making life difficult for Tom Brady and the offense. Ryan Succop kicked his fourth field goal of the game which was a 25-yard field goal to make it 19-16 for the Bucs. In a weird series of events, the story of the game had to be the officiating. It seemed every time the Bucs were stopping the Bears on offense the refs were throwing flags and calling penalties on almost everything.
It got worse for the Bucs as they would lose Vita Vea late in the game due to an injury and was carted off to the locker room. With 1:17 left in the game and the Bears not able to get a touchdown, they sent out Santos again who would end up kicking the game-winning field goal to take a 20-19 lead.
Tom Brady had one final chance to win the game but the offense would fall short as the Bucs couldn’t convert and the game ended. The Bucs now fall to 3-2 and have a tough game next Sunday against Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers.