Bears Played Santa; Bucs Cashed Gifts
September 17th, 2017
Christmas in September.
Ho, ho, ho, boy did the Bucs find a lot of gifts under the palm tree today.
The Bears played Santa, even though it’s still a steamy September in Florida. And the Bucs quickly took many of these gifts to the store and returned them for points.
Mike Glennon was awful early on. He had three turnovers, two picks and a fumble in the Bears’ first three offensive drives. Tarik Cohen also had one of the dumbest moves you will ever see, trying to pick up a punt that was a fraction of a second from being blown dead. Then he got blown up by Ryan Smith and Cam Lynch recovered the loose ball.
The splashing you heard this afternoon was not dolphins bouncing in Tampa Bay, but Bears fans jumping off the Madison Street Bridge into the Chicago River.
Off those four turnovers, the Bucs scored 21 points to pad the lead to 23-0 after Robert McClain’s 47-yard pick six. The Bucs were off to the races.
And in the case of Mike Evans’ 13-yard pass from Jameis after Cohen’s stupid move, it was a quick-strike payback by the Bucs.
“That’s what we talk about on offense,” tight end Cam Brate said. “When we get a turnover, that sudden change, the defense often isn’t ready. Take your shot.”
As happy as winning Bucs coach Dirk Koetter was about the defense and the forcing of turnovers — “fantastic” — he admitted four first half turnovers is rare.
“Every game takes on its own personality and even though we plan it, we think we might know how it’s going to go, we really don’t,” Koetter said. “We just didn’t expect it to go how it went, to get four turnovers in the first half. But, that’s how it went. We did what we needed to do.”
Bucs defensive tackle Clinton McDonald wasn’t so sure.
“Things aren’t impossible, they are possible when you have a positive mindset,” McDonald said. “We knew we had to come in here and be plus-three on turnovers if we wanted to win this game.”
America’s Quarterback, Pro Bowler Jameis Winston, all but said the defense and forcing turnovers set up the offense to have a solid day.
“Complementary football at its finest,” Jameis said. “Defense played phenomenal, offense had great drives.”
Bucs fans rightly have been concerned with the lack of fast starts. It’s something Bucs coaches have been focused on correcting. Forcing four turnovers in the first half goes a long way to starting fast.
September 17th, 2017 at 9:01 pm
The Bucs finally have learned how to go for the jugular. That pass to ME13 and the catch was just spectacular.
There was no rust between #3 and ME13 today.
September 17th, 2017 at 9:10 pm
Great game on both sides of the ball. Glennon didn’t look horrible, but we really did a great job scheming against him.
Am I going to be the only one to bring up Jameis overthrowing open guys on THREE different occasions, though? Winston is a badass but if this were the Patriots, you don’t get a second chance at an open receiver streaking towards the end zone – tighten up!
September 17th, 2017 at 9:33 pm
19-9
September 17th, 2017 at 9:38 pm
Plus they were helped by stupid penalties. 3 in a row that they had the Bucs stopped. Good win. Don’t expect Good teams to turn the ball over and hand them wins.
September 17th, 2017 at 9:40 pm
Its the first game.
Ussually defenses are far ahead of offenses.
QBs and WRs arent in Rythme yet.
They will be. Soon.
Its the same every year. Missed opurtunities, excessive penalties, and blown plays.
Strange everyone forgets
They will get more and more in sync, as the season progresses
September 17th, 2017 at 9:48 pm
“If I’m Chicago, I know what I’m doing. As soon as I make my first first down on offense, I’m going no huddle. And I’m going to wear them cats out,” Edwards said on ESPN Chicago. “I am going to exhaust them. I’m gonna try to exhaust that defense, so by the middle of the third quarter, they’re spent. They’re spent.
“Now I got a chance to do what I need to do. You can close the game out running it or do what I got to do. But I’m going to wear that defense down. Because of none of these guys are in shape.”
STFU Herm
September 17th, 2017 at 9:58 pm
SMH…so there were some plays that wasn’t exactly the way some fans may have wanted, and I am pretty sure the Bears would have liked to have performed better too. PERFECTION is never present in any REAL-TIME game. I guess the HUMAN aspect separates it from FANTASY!
GEESH…the team won after overcoming real adversity in their personal lives and professional set backs. It is so easy for US to knit pick mistakes here are there.
A win is a win and the Bucs won!🤗
I have NEVER witnessed a perfect flawless game! And if we did have one someone still would find some minor thing to complain about.
Is it just me or are there people who look at the games and don’t realize sometimes timing can be off after not practicing enough, or a receiver may not be there as fast as he was suppose to be, or the QB may have taken a hit while passing the ball.
Enjoy the win, the 5th in a row at home. And stop looking for the PERFECT GAME!
Out of 53 players some will be up some down, that’s why you play complimentary football. It’s a team effort!
GO BUCS☠
September 17th, 2017 at 10:04 pm
“The splashing you heard this afternoon was not dolphins bouncing in Tampa Bay, but Bears fans jumping off the Madison Street Bridge into the Chicago River.”
Good stuff
September 17th, 2017 at 10:04 pm
You tell him 1987😁
September 17th, 2017 at 10:27 pm
Atlanta could be a problem……
September 17th, 2017 at 11:19 pm
Atlanta is not a problem
September 17th, 2017 at 11:37 pm
Atlanta is looking good tonight ONLY because Rodgers has been running for his life..they have key players out on injuries and it shows!
And Glennon had a great arm but his receivers dropped the ball like 10 times. But our guys played in perfect unison..love my Bucs!
September 18th, 2017 at 6:33 am
I am not concerned about the ATL right now as the Bucs now have to focus on the Vikes and whomever they will have playing under the center: Bradford or Case Keenum…. I think this could be a revenge game for the Bucs if Keenum is the QB as if I recall right this backup Keenum looked like frieking Johnny Unitas in his prime when he got the start against the Bucs in 2015 and 2016 for the Lambs. Looking forward to some Buc payback!