By Patrick Mangin ‘24

On Sunday, the Bears lost their week two matchup to the Buccaneers with a final score of 27-17. After a blowout loss in week one to the Packers, everyone was hoping for a bounce back win versus the Bucs, but we were all thoroughly disappointed.

The game started out in a great fashion for the Bears. Justin Fields and D.J. Moore connected on the first play of the game for a 33-yard gain, which eventually led to a Fields rushing touchdown to take a 7-3 lead. However, from that point on, we saw the same boring Bears offense from week one with a weak, screen-heavy game plan.

The Bears defense struggled against the pass in the first half, largely due to the fact that Safety Eddie Jackson hurt his foot and did not return to the game. That left the Bears with a very inexperienced secondary that was greatly taken advantage of. Despite this, the Bears were still only down 13-10 going into halftime.

In the second half the Bears continued to struggle offensively with extremely questionable play calls and bad decisions by Justin Fields. It wasn’t until the fourth quarter that the Bears scored another touchdown, with Justin Fields finding wide receiver Chase Claypool in the endzone, making the score 20-17.

The Bears forced the Bucs to punt on their next drive, giving Bears fans a sense of hope that they could pull off the win.

Unfortunately, the Bears called their frequently used screen pass, and Justin Fields threw an interception returned for a touchdown by Shaquil Barrett that ultimately sealed the game for the Bucs.

The Bears performance was all around disappointing, and not much good can be said about the game whatsoever. The offensive line let up six sacks, Fields threw two interceptions, and the play calls throughout the game were terrible.

I’m sure all Bears fans, including myself, hope that maybe the Bears will battle harder next week.

They matchup against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs next Sunday at 3:25 p.m.