The Tampa Bay Buccaneers finally got their season started Sunday at Raymond James Stadium, and after the Chicago Bears won the coin toss and elected to defer, it was the Bucs offense that would open up the game in Tampa.
The Bucs running game got off to a slow start, but Jameis Winston was on target, finding Mike Evans, Desean Jackson and Alan Cross to quickly put the Bucs on the doorstep of the red zone. However, Winston and the Bucs failed to put a touchdown on the board as they often did during the preseason, and were forced to send Nick Folk out for a go-ahead field goal with 8:58 remaining in the first.
The Bears first drive started fairly ominously as Jordan Howard was dropped for a 3-yard loss, and Mike Glennon was forced to take a time out before second down. Glennon got comfortable quickly though and after finding a couple of receivers over the middle, the Bears found themselves in Bucs territory. After the Bears moved the ball all the way to the Buccaneers 22-yard-line, Bucs linebacker Kwon Alexander stepped in front of a Glennon pass and picked it off to give the ball back to Winston and the Bucs offense.
The Bucs offense couldn’t take advantage of the Bears turnover, but on Brian Anger’s punt, they created another one. Tarik Cohen fumbled the punt, and it was recovered by Cam Lynch. Moments later Winston found Mike Evans in the corner of the end zone to put the Bucs ahead 10-0.
The Bears next drive ended on a turnover once again as Noah Spence got to Glennon and forced a fumble on the sack. Lavonte David recovered the fumble, and the Bucs offense was back in business with a 1st-and-10 at the Bears 35-yard-line.
The Bucs looked like they were going 3-and-out on the following drive, but a holding call on Chicago kept the drive alive. A few Jacquizz Rodgers runs later, the Bucs were looking at a 1st-and-goal from the 9-yard-line. Moments later Winston found Evans in the back of the end zone for what should have been a touchdown, but Evans couldn’t pull it in setting up a big 3rd-and-goal. Winston failed to put the ball in the end zone while scrambling on third down, but a defensive hold by Bears defensive lineman Willie Young extended the drive. A play later, Rodgers punched it in, and the Bucs were ahead 17-0.
T.J. Ward made his first eye-opening play for the Bucs on the next drive, dropping Cohen for a 2-yard-loss on 2nd-and-9. The Bears picked up another first down on the drive, but then Glennon was picked again, this time by Bobby McClain, who returned it to the house, and put the Bucs ahead 23-0. The first half couldn’t be all positive, so Nick Folk came in and missed the extra point.
The Bears were once again unable to do anything on their following drive, and punted the ball back to the Buccaneers with just over a minute left. Conventional wisdom says you sit on the ball and don’t allow yourself to commit the turnover that changes momentum, but Dirk Koetter wasn’t worried about being conventional. Instead, the Bucs went into a 2-minute offense, and moved the ball into field goal territory. Folk came in and hit the 50 yarder, and the Bucs headed into the locker room with a 26-0 lead. Clearly rust was not an issue after the layoff!
The second half started in similar fashion to how the whole first half went for the Bears as they went 3-and-out, and punted the ball back to their daddies, I mean the Buccaneers. The Bucs first drive of the second half didn’t start as slowly, as they were quickly in Chicago territory. The Bucs remained aggressive on the drive as Winston threw the first pass in Bears territory just beyond the outstretched arms of Jackson in the end zone, just missing a 44-yard touchdown completion. The Bucs looked like they were on their way in for more points, but Charles Sims fumbled the ball back to the Bears to end the drive.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but the Bears once again couldn’t get anything going offensively after the turnover and were punting the ball back to the Bucs before long. The Bears downed the punt at the Bucs 8-yard-line, leaving the Buccaneers with a long field ahead of them, but still leading 26-0 with just over six minutes to play in the third quarter. The Bucs didn’t let their poor starting field position slow them down at all, and moved the ball into Bears territory, and into the red zone. As the third quarter came to a close, Winston and the Bucs offense were looking at 3rd-and-1 at the Bears 12-yard-line. Rodgers took a carry off the right side to start the fourth quarter, and picked up two yards to set up a 1st-and-goal for the Bucs. The Bucs couldn’t punch it in for another six, but Folk came out and hit the chip-shot field goal to push the Tampa Bay lead to 29-0 with 12:26 remaining in the game.
The Bears finally got something going on their next drive, as Glennon drove the Bears into Bucs territory, and an awful personal foul call on Chris Conte moved the Bears inside the red zone, setting up 1st-and-10 at the Bucs 14-yard-line. A few plays later Glennon was staring at a 4th-and-10 from the 14, and couldn’t connect with a receiver over the middle, and the Bucs took over on downs, keeping the score at 29-0 with under 10 minutes to play.
After a Bucs drive didn’t get anything going, Glennon once again drove the ball into Bucs territory, and all the way to the Tampa Bay 7-yard-line before once again turning the ball over on downs and keeping the score at 29-0 with under six minutes to play. The Bucs felt good enough at that point that they took Winston out of the game and allowed Ryan Fitzpatrick to take over under center on the following drive.
After Fitzpatrick failed to get anything going, Glennon came out and once again looked good against soft coverage, and once again pushed the ball deep into Bucs territory. This time Glennon was able to put the Bears on the board with a meaningless touchdown pass to Deonte Thompson to make the score 29-7. That would be the final score as the Bucs season opener was about as smooth a Bucs victory at Raymond James Stadium as we’ve seen in some time.