A nightmare scenario played out for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday night, and it had nothing to do with the score of a 34-7 blowout loss. That was the least of everyone's concern, as an injury to Baker Mayfield at the end of the first half cast a bleak shadow over everything.
Twice fans had to watch Baker leave the game with a shoulder injury but there wouldn't be a third. After heaving a Hail Mary attempt as time expired at the end of the second quarter, Mayfield stayed on the field clutching his left shoulder in pain and needed to be helped off the field.
He emerged after halftime without his uniform on and wearing a sling, all tremendously bad signs.
Teddy Bridgewater finished the game and the Bucs have now been pushed to the brink of falling out of the playoff picture after losing a fourth game in five weeks. For as bad and thoroughly embarrassing as that is, all anyone cared about after the game was the health of Mayfield and how bad his injury was.
Todd Bowles gave a bummer of an update on Baker Mayfield after loss to Rams
After the game, Todd Bowles spoke to the media and said that Baker Mayfield has a shoulder sprain and would undergo an MRI on Monday to determine the severity.
Until then, we won't know how long Baker is out. Based on the grade of the sprain, Mayfield could miss anywhere from one or two weeks, to six-to-eight if it's closer to a Grade 3 sprain.
The silver lining is that it's an injury to Baker's non-throwing shoulder, which increases the chances he returns this season or is able to play through it and wait until the offseason for more serious treatment.
Losing Baker is a potential death sentence for a Bucs team already teetering on the brink of total collapse. If the Panthers win on Monday night, Tampa Bay will head into Thanksgiving in second place and at Carolina's mercy.
That's such an embarrassing place to be, not because the Panthers are bad but because the Bucs should be so much better. This now marks three straight seasons where Tampa Bay slipped into a midseason coma, and an injury to Baker could mean that there won't be a rebound this time around.
Some good news is that the schedule loosens up after Sunday night. The Bucs return home to face the Cardinals next Sunday before finishing the season against the Saints, Falcons, Dolphins and the Panthers twice.
That's not a hard schedule, but we've watched the Bucs make things harder than they need to be for far too long. The team is in far more capable hands with Bridgewater than would be the case with Kyle Trask, but things have been trending hard in the wrong direction, and losing Baker for more than a few games could be the final straw that breaks the entire season.