The Tampa Bay Buccaneers' passing attack continued its downward spiral on Sunday Night Football in Week 9, wasting a defensive masterpiece and an efficient run game. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers' defensive backfield intercepted Chicago Bears superstar quarterback Caleb Williams, arguably the NFL MVP frontrunner, a whopping four times, as Zyon McCollum and Co. more than held up their end of the bargain. But the Buccaneers ultimately fell short in their comeback bid by a score of 27-24 as Baker Mayfield threw two interceptions of his own, including a pick-six, to seal Tampa Bay's fate.
Mayfield, once again, stood out as the weak link of the team. He forced bad passes, could not make plays when it mattered, and held the ball too long. All the issues that have been present this season - or even in the last couple of seasons, including when he was playing well - were present for the Bucs and their $55 million quarterback.
When the quarterback underperforms, the entire team feels it, and that was the case again on Sunday. But when equating expectations, Mayfield's wide receivers have honestly underperformed just as badly as he has. The quarterback playing poorly is obviously a bigger drag, but considering the Bucs receivers were viewed as a strength of the roster even without Mike Evans, the failure of Emeka Egbuka and Chris Godwin to step up has been catastrophic.
The Buccaneers' wide receivers are woefully inefficient
Baker Mayfield certainly did not help matters by missing his receivers when they were open, but all season long, Godwin and Egbuka have been absent. On Sunday against the Chicago Bears, the Bucs top wide receiver duo combined for just 5 receptions and 54 yards. Godwin only caught two passes for 16 yards in a particularly underwhelming performance from a veteran wideout expected to be the No. 1 guy.
And they were still not the worst receivers in the Bucs offense. Ted Hurst came onto the field for just one snap, dropped an easy first down, and was swiftly benched, a microcosm of his bust of a rookie campaign thus far after a ton of offseason hype.
Tez Johnson has been the one saving grace of a playmaker in the passing attack, and even he was disappointing against the Bears with two key third-down drops.
The Buccaneers leading wide receiver this season is Emeka Egbuka with 31 receptions and 278 yards, which ranks 80th among all receivers. He is averaging just 5.1 yards per target and has converted only 57% of his targets. Chris Godwin is in the same boat, with 29 receptions for 259 yards on the season, averaging a career-low 8.9 yards per catch.
Tampa Bay's passing attack is the worst in the NFL, and while Mayfield owns a significant chunk of the responsibility, the wide receivers have been this team's most disappointing unit, especially considering the lofty expectations they faced heading into the season.
This entire offense needs to do some soul-searching during the bye week and figure things out so they don't continue to waste championship-caliber performances by the defense and rushing attack.
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