Thursday night was anything but enjoyable for Bucs fans as they fell to 3-2 after a one point disappointing loss to the Chicago Bears (4-1). While there are a couple positives to take away from the game, overall it's what many fans are calling a s*** show thanks to a couple questionable calls by the officials.
Ronald Jones II had a good night after rushing for 107-yards on 17 carries along with 19-yards on 3 catches. Jones has his second consecutive 100-yard game this season and could continue to be the starter for the teams Week 6 contest against the Packers on Oct 18th.
As for the offensive line, they didn't look like the same unit that's been handling business for the first part of the season. Rookie Tristan Wirfs finally looked human as he had his hands full with Khalil Mack. And when I say hands full, that goes for his two holding penalties and slipping up on his blocks. As for Donovan Smith, if I were Bruce Arians, I'd leave him on Chicago. Smith was in peak-shape tonight with 3 penalties as he was used as a revolving door to the backfield. Since we're on the subject of penalties, let's talk about "Big Red" Ryan Jensen's personal foul call on a drive that witnessed the Bucs being flagged four different times.The offensive line showed the world on Primetime why they're one of the top penalized teams in the league.
Another group that spent most of the night giving Bucs fans a headache is the defense. Outside of the Davis' interception in the first quarter, the Bucs, don't have much to be happy for. The secondary (Whitehead and Murphy-Bunting) are still struggling when it comes to the wheels routes and deep coverage. Let's not mention Todd Bowles dialing up the blitz on almost every down allowing for the defense to be burned on the long ball due to Cottonelle-soft coverage. If the Bucs are going to contain Adams or any of the Packers threats when they take the field in 10 days, they're going to have to fix these issues and quick. If I could make one change right now, it would be to replace Murphy-Bunting with Dean and place SMB in the slot.
If the Bucs plan to beat the Packers next week, they're going to need to put the pedal to the metal in fixing these issues. If we can lose by 1 to a mediocre Bears team, imagine what an actual team would do with our miscues. And one last thing, if I were the Bucs, I'd get Brady's head checked after all those hits and forgetting what down it is at the end of the game. Head up though Bucs fans, this isn't the end. It's nice to be humbled after a small win streak that way we can do more than fix the minimums.
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