Was this the day Jameis Winston got his job back? Rick Stroud, Tampa Bay Times, published 1 October 2018 This may be most fondly remembered by Bucs fans as the day Jameis Winston got his job back. With Ryan Fitzpatrick performing miserably in the first half and the team trailing by five touchdowns, coach Dirk Koetter turned to Winston in the third quarter of Sunday's 48-10 loss to the Bears. Winston, who missed three games serving a suspension, saw his first and last possessions of the second half ended with interceptions. But he competed hard and knocked off some rust, going 16-of-20 passing for 145 yards with a touchdown and the two INTs. Was it enough for Winston to start Oct. 14 at Atlanta? "Uh, probably, but we'll worry about that on another day,'' coach Dirk Koetter said. "Ryan Fitzpatrick didn't lose this game, either. If this is on any one person, it's got to be on me. If you're going to put one person on there, put it on me.'' Fitzpatrick, who threw for at least 400 yards and three touchdowns in each of his first three starts this season while going 2-1, never got into the flow of the game. He finished 9-of-18 passing for 126 yards with no touchdowns and an interception and was sacked twice. The Bucs' first-half possessions went punt, punt, field goal, punt, punt, interception. Koetter said he told both quarterbacks Winston would start the third quarter before halftime. "We didn't play well, obviously,'' Fitzpatrick said. "That's the understatement of the day, but we didn't play well in any of the phases and you do that on the road against a good football team and the score is going to look like it did today.'' Koetter said the Bucs put Winston in a horrible position to enter his first game of the season. "Towards the end of the half, I told the coaches we were going to switch to Jameis,'' Koetter said. "I told Jamies and Fitz in the locker room at halftime. You know, a chance to get Jameis some real football, and we put Jameis in a terrible situation today. And I told him that. I told him that right off the bat at halftime, that we put him in a bad situation. I knew Jameis would go in and give us everything he had, and he did.'' Winston said he felt comfortable to be back in a game. "I felt great,'' Winston said. "Just to be back out there with my teammates. It was different than throwing against virtually nobody. I believe the guys helped me prepare for this, they did a great job.