Retour
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will get one heck of a challenge when they head to Chicago to take on the Bears on Sunday Night Football.
The Bucs are riding in hot after back-to-back division wins and will come into this primetime matchup relying heavily on their running game and defensive prowess.
The Bears, in their own right, look to be one of the true Super Bowl contenders in the league and will provide the Bucs with their toughest challenge over the past few weeks.
The Bucs have beaten the struggling Carolina Panthers and an Atlanta Falcons team that imploded, but they have yet to get the test of a disciplined, high-functioning contender like the Bears over the past few weeks.
Unlike the Panthers and Falcons, the Bears offense isn't really one-dimensional or focused on one player. Carolina and Atlanta's offenses couldn't really push the ball down the field against Todd Bowles' defense, but Chicago's multifaceted playmakers can attack both horizontally and vertically, making it tough for defenses to cover the entire field.
While the Bears' offense has been their strong suit, they also boast one of the better run-stopping defenses in the league thanks to their strong defensive front.
The Bucs' offensive line was able to bully the Panthers' and Falcons' defensive fronts with gap schemes and heavy run scripts. However, the Bears' front seven have surrendered under 88 yards per game to opponents.
With heavy-hitters like Montez Sweat and recently acquired Jeffery Simmons anchoring the defensive line, Tampa Bay won't be able to just line up and lean on Bucky Irving and Kenny Gainwell as they did against softer defensive fronts.
The Buccaneers have made history over the past few weeks by not putting the ball in the air with Baker Mayfield, but they will likely have to do so against Chicago.
While the Bears' defensive front is their strength, they are susceptible in their secondary and Zac Robinson must know how to creatively mix in the pass to create balance on the offensive side of the ball.
Shifting from non-primetime games over the past couple of weeks to the brightest lights on Sunday, it will be a true litmus test for where the Bucs are. While it will be a struggle, this could be a typical NFL spot where the Bears don't take Tampa seriously.
The Bucs are far from a finished product, but coming away with a victory over one of the elites in the NFL would do wonders for the psyche of the team and the confidence that they can make some noise the rest of the way.