Baker Mayfield embarrassed Nick Bosa while stiff-arming him into another dimension

While the Tampa Bay Buccaneers didn't come away with a victory on Sunday, the final offensive drive of the game once again proved that the team was right to bring back Baker Mayfield over the offseason.

In back-to-back weeks, Mayfield has orchestrated insane game-tying drives that defy everything that had come before it and reminded everyone just how good this team can be. Unfortunately, those moments were fleeting on Sunday -- and have been over the last four games.

Tampa Bay is now in the midst of a four-game losing streak, as history appears to be repeating itself from what happened last year. Right about this time a year ago, the Bucs cratered hard and nearly ruined what ended up being a fantastic season.

For as bad as the losing has been, the fact that the Bucs haven't showed any quit is an encouraging sign. It's also what makes the close losses so unbeliveably frustrating.

Most fans will throw yet another loss on the shoulders of Todd Bowles, who does deserve a fair share of the blame. Baker had a tough game as well, though, with the offense struggling to get anything going in one of his worst performances of the season.

None of that mattered on late in the fourth quarter, though. In a show of force that this team isn't as dead as it looks, Mayfield led an incredible game-tying drive that featured one of the signature plays of his career.

It's hard to articulate just how strong a human being needs to be in order to hold Nick Bosa in a stiff arm like that for as long as Baker did. Not only that, he still got the throw off and made a completion out of what could have been -- should have been -- a backbreaking play.

Mistakes were made later in the drive when the Bucs tried to run down clock and get the 49ers to burn timeouts. Two straight run plays resulted in no gains and essentially squandered a chance for Tampa Bay to punch in a touchdown and take the lead.

This is the second straight week that the team goofed on its end-of-game management, and it's going to do nothing to lower the heat on Todd Bowles' seat. Liam Coen deserves a share of the blame too, even if right now he's coaching well enough to be teflon for most fans.

Still, as rough as the game ended the way Baker led the team down the field was absolutely lights out stuff. There's still a lot of season left, and the Bucs have a soft upcoming schedule that could help a team that played the way it did down the stretch get things back on track.

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