It wasn’t a pretty night for the Chicago Bears, but you don’t always need to look pretty to win football games.
The Bears were able to outlast the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 27-24, in a game where the offenses didn’t shine as much as the score suggests. Tampa Bay’s Baker Mayfield and Chicago’s Caleb Williams threw a combined six interceptions, which is the most combined interceptions thrown by two quarterbacks in a game this season.
Chicago prevailed, though, despite turning the ball over five times. It needed to kick the game-winning field goal as time expired, but it picked up the win to improve to 7-2, while Tampa Bay dropped to 3-6 on the season.
Here are my takeaways from Sunday night’s game.
1.
Caleb Williams Is Human, But He Was Iceman When It Mattered
Caleb Williams had a strong opening and closing to Sunday’s game. He threw for 105 yards and two touchdowns on the Bears’ opening two drives, connecting with Rome Odunze and Luther Burden for scores to give Chicago a 14-0 lead.
And on the final drive, Williams made his biggest play of the night when he connected with Colston Loveland for a 38-yard gain. He completed 3 of 4 passes for 52 yards on that possession, helping Cairo Santos kick a game-winning 38-yard field goal as time expired.
Williams was good enough on those three drives that it didn’t matter that he threw a career-high four interceptions on Sunday. Outside of those three possessions, Williams had the worst game of his NFL career. He was 13 of 25 for 122 yards and four interceptions, throwing that many picks as he’s never thrown more than two interceptions in a game in his career.
Luckily for Williams, the Bucs weren’t able to take advantage of all those turnovers. The first three were converted to three points, and the fourth was followed by a Bears pick-six, so they essentially got minus-4 points from four turnovers.
The Bears got away with it Sunday night, but they have a turnover problem. They committed only 11 turnovers all of last season en route to winning the NFC North, but this year’s team already has 16 turnovers, and that will catch up to them against tougher competition.
NFL teams throwing four or more interceptions had a 2-73 record since 2014 before the Bears’ win on Sunday. So, it’s certainly not sustainable.
2.
Baker Mayfield Is Back, But Not Healthy
Baker Mayfield missed three games with his thumb injury, and his first two games back were barely attempts at passing the ball. He threw 11 passes in a win over the Carolina Panthers and had zero completions in a shutout win against the Atlanta Falcons last week.
The Buccaneers knew they’d need to throw the ball Sunday night, and you saw the best and worst of that. He had a 44-yard throw to running back Kenneth Gainwell and a 57-yard deep ball to receiver Tez Johnson. However, he also had two costly interceptions, the latter of which was returned 67 yards for a touchdown by Bears corner Jaylon Johnson right after Williams threw his fourth pick of the day.
Mayfield had been able to keep his turnovers in check since Week 1, when he lost three fumbles in the opening loss to the Bengals. He had just two turnovers total in his four games since then before Sunday.
However, Sunday brought some good and bad with the Buccaneers quarterback. And the injury concerns are still there. Mayfield was limping off the field in the second half. No injury was reported, but he didn’t look like he was at full strength and he didn’t have the scrambling ability that’s helped him so much. He finished with one carry for 0 yards and was sacked on back-to-back plays in the fourth quarter when the Buccaneers had a chance to drive for a tying touchdown.
3.
Takeaways Are What The Buccaneers Do Best
The Buccaneers’ defense has gotten quarterbacks who have avoided interceptions to throw lots of them in three straight games.
Two weeks ago, Carolina’s Bryce Young had thrown two picks all season, and the Bucs got two in a key division road win. Last week, Atlanta’s Michael Penix Jr. had thrown one all season, and the Bucs got him to throw four of them in a shutout win over the Falcons.
And perhaps most impressively, Chicago’s Caleb Williams had thrown just one pick this season, and the Bucs got three in the first half and four total. Two of them came from corner Zyon McCollum, who has four over the last three games.
Williams had been elite at limiting his mistakes – he hadn’t thrown multiple interceptions in a game since his first month in the NFL in Sept. 2024. He had gone 36 straight games with one or no interceptions, but the Bucs got three in one half.
Tampa Bay has already exceeded their total for all of last season (13), and the Buccaneers are leading the NFL in both interceptions (15) and takeaways (19). It’s what a Todd Bowles defense is predicated on, and it was, with their run game, central to them winning three of four games entering Sunday’s game at Chicago.
