Bucs’ defense fails to register takeaway in loss to Bears Ira Kaufman, The Tampa Tribune, published 28 December 2015 Although Bears quarterback Jay Cutler threw for only 156 yards, Tampa Bay’s defense failed to make the key stops in Sunday’s 26-21 loss while continuing a disturbing late-season pattern by not registering a takeaway. “It’s frustrating because we pride ourselves as a unit in getting takeaways and it’s not happening,’’ said LB Lavonte David, who was credited with nine tackles. ”We’re a good football team and we’re getting better, but we’re not consistent. We’ve got to go up to Carolina next week, finish strong and give our fans something to cheer about heading into next season.’’ The Bears ran for 174 yards, averaging 4.5 yards against a rush defense that had been yielding only 3.3 yards per carry. Chicago went ahead for good at 20-14 on the opening snap of the fourth quarter when Cutler faked a handoff and found RB Ka’Deem Carey wide open in the left corner of the end zone from a yard out. “That was a great play by the Bears,’’ David said. ”Give them credit for making the right call at the right time against that particular defense.’’ Active duty To say it’s been a eventful season for Demar Dotson would be an understatement. The longest-tenured Bucs player resumed his starting right tackle spot Sunday after being inactive for two games, despite being healthy. Dotson replaced Gosder Cherilus, who had started 13 games at right tackle. But Tampa Bay’s ground game struggled with only 104 yards as the underdog Bears dominated time of possession. “I don’t think the line did as good a job blocking for Doug Martin today as we did most of the year,’’ said Dotson, who suffered a knee injury in the preseason opener and wasn’t activated until Nov. 9. “We’ve lost three games in a row and it’s disappointing to go out like this in our last home game. We fought hard, but we had too any mistakes. We just beat ourselves — and that’s kind of the storyline for our whole season.’’ Dotson joined the Bucs as a free agent in 2009 and has been on an emotional roller-coaster most of the season, even after rehabbing a serious injury. “Demar is a good football player,’’ Lovie Smith said. “It’s not like he lost his job, or anything like that. Circumstances didn’t let him get a lot of reps this season and we wanted to give him a long look this week.’’ Dotson is scheduled to be a free agent after this season.