It’s still very early in the season, but it’s already looking like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are going full Luke Skywalker on their critics.
After an offseason of getting buried and forgotten about in the wake of Tom Brady’s retirement, the downward spiral that experts predicted is not going the way they thought it would. Tampa Bay marched into Minnesota and earned an upset win last Sunday and now have a really great opportunity to begin the season 2-0.
Tampa Bay welcomes the Chicago Bears to town for its home opener, and things are already breaking the Bucs way. The Bears are coming off a brutal loss to the Green Bay Packers, not just because of the margin of defeat but because of the context. With Aaron Rodgers gone, fans thought this was finally the turning of the tide; instead Jordan Love baptized them on the road and seemingly has already broken the Bears.
Bears beat writer Dan Wiederer gave one of the grimmest reports of this week of where morale is at for Chicago.
Yikes.
In my time covering the NFL, I can't really remember a time where on the Wednesday of Week 2, a building seemed so apparently shaken by and/or short on answers for what happened in Week 1. These next five days are response time and should tell us a lot about this group's pluck.
— Dan Wiederer (@danwiederer) September 13, 2023
While Bucs fans can sympathize with that broken, hopeless feeling, that’s the Bears team coming to town on Sunday. If the Bucs don’t play with their food and truly build on what they did in Week 1, things will almost certainly continue to roll in the right direction.
How to watch Buccaneers vs. Bears Week 2: Start time, live stream, TV channel
It didn't take long for the Buccaneers to fall out of favor with the broadcast map. Both of the last two times Chicago and Tampa Bay met it was a nationally televised affair. The Bucs and Tom Brady lost a Thursday night game back in 2020 and the Bears got thumped a year later when they traveled down to Tampa Bay for a FOX Game of the Week.
This time around, the two teams are meeting in the early window and being broadcast in local markets only. It’s a pretty far fall not only for the Bucs but for the Bears as well. Here’s a team that drafted an electric young quarterback only a handful of years ago but are already on the verge of potentially turning the page to a new era.
What irony that it’s the Bears with massive quarterback issues heading into this Week 2 matchup and not the team every expert in the world expected it from.
Even though the Bucs are only being broadcast to local markets, fans will get the ace announcing duo of Joe Davis and Daryl Johnston on the call.
- Date: Sunday, September 17th
- Start Time: 1:00 pm ET
- Location: Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, FL
- TV Channel: FOX
- Announcers: Joe Davis, Daryl Johnston
- Live Stream: NFL Sunday Ticket
Buccaneers vs. Bears Week 2 odds
Last week the Bucs were unsurpisingly a road dog against the comfortably favored Vikings. After the win, Vegas has shifted its stance on the Bucs if only slighlty. Tampa Bay is a home favorite against Chicago, but is only laying 2.5 points despite how both teams played last Sunday.
To be fair, one good game won't convert many of the doubters. Week 1 is historically full of weird stuff, almost never reveals a team's true colors. What the Bucs can do is continue to build on what they did against Minnesota and further establish some presence against a weak Bears team.
What's notable about the odds is the over/under. Once again the oddsmakers are betting against this being a high-scoring affair, although both Tampa Bay and Chicago scored at least 20 points in Week 1.
- Spread: Bucs -2.5
- Moneyline: Bucs -142 | Bears +120
- Over/Under: 41