Bucs don't Bear up, 31-10 Don Banks, The St.Petersburg Times, published 18 December 1995 It was your basic loser-goes-home matchup. The only question is where. But even if the Bears skedaddle to Indiana, or the Bucs set sail for Cleveland, one basic tenet of this lopsided series remains unchanged : facing elimination, it's not a good idea for the Bucs to be facing the Bears. With or without playoff scenarios, there was little new in this story line. Behind four Bucs turnovers that helped produce 17 Bears points, Chicago blasted Tampa Bay 31-10 Sunday before an apathetic Soldier Field crowd of 49,475, killing the Bucs' slim post-season chances while enlivening its own. The Bears, losers of 5 of 6 entering the game, improved to 8-7 by handing Tampa Bay its 15th loss in 17 trips to Chicago. The Bears have won 28 of the series' 36 games, and have trounced their NFC Central whipping boys by a combined 157-50 in their past five meetings at Soldier Field. Tampa Bay meanwhile assured itself of an NFL-high 13th consecutive non-winning season, falling to 7-8 with only Saturday's season finale against Detroit (9-6) at Tampa Stadium remaining. Ironically, had the Bucs beaten the Bears, Carolina's upset of visiting Atlanta (8-7) would have given Tampa Bay a chance to earn a playoff berth with a win next week. "I guess this team is not used to going to the playoffs," Bucs defensive tackle Brad Culpepper said. "In order to get there, we're going to have to win the head-to-head games, especially in the division." Losing for the sixth time in eight games after a 5-2 start, the Bucs dropped their fourth division road game in six weeks. Included in that humbling run were losses on three of the past four Sundays at Green Bay, Minnesota and Chicago, by a combined score of 97-40. "It's something that we definitely haven't been able to handle, whether it's preparation or the mental attitude of it," Bucs defensive end Chidi Ahanotu said. "Obviously we seem to play better at home. We've got to get better on the road and be able to deal with hostile environments." The Bucs have at least found one setting they're comfortable with: last place. Billed as a battle of 7-7 wild-card contenders, the game also determined the NFC Central basement occupant entering Week 17. "This was a playoff atmosphere, and maybe the fact that we hadn't been here before, maybe Chicago was ahead of us with that," Bucs right guard Ian Beckles said. "We were just outplayed today." Chicago fans didn't exactly buy into the playoff atmosphere. There were 17,469 no-shows in the unusually mild 34-degree weather. They missed a game in which Tampa Bay trailed just 14-10 at the half, but produced zero points and 52 yards of offense in the final two quarters, going quietly as the Bears put things away with a 17-0 run. Rookie running back Rashaan Salaam led the Bears with a career-high 134 yards in 27 carries, with touchdown runs of 15, 1 and 3 yards. Receivers Chris Conway (eight for 88 yards) and Jeff Graham (five for 102 yards, including a 47-yard touchdown) also helped flesh out Chicago's 429-yard day against a Tampa Bay defense that started four rookies. Tampa Bay had but two offensive highlights: a 50-yard Michael Husted field goal that hit the crossbar and skidded over, and - drumrolls, please - a 20-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Trent Dilfer to receiver Horace Copeland. That's right, we said Trent Dilfer. After throwing an interception on his first pass of the day, setting up Salaam's 15-yard touchdown, Dilfer rebounded by connecting with Copeland on his fifth pass. For the Bucs' beleaguered QB, it was his first passing touchdown in 278 attempts, dating back 12 weeks to the season's fourth game. For Dilfer, it was his fourth scoring pass of the season, tying him with three other quarterbacks for fewest touchdown throws in a season that included at least 300 attempts. For Copeland, it was his first score since a 64-yard bomb on opening day in Philadelphia. "It was nice," Dilfer said. "I wasn't sure if I could do it anymore. It was definitely a relief to get that monkey off my back." Typical for his season, Dilfer's day was uneven. He threw three interceptions, giving him seven against the Bears in two games. Chicago, which entered with a league-low 11 interceptions, has 14, half against Tampa Bay. But his 22-of-37 showing for 226 yards otherwise was solid, and his four runs for 35 yards made him the team-high rusher. "It's kind of tough, because it really was kind of an up-and-down season this year," Beckles said. "We started off great, and were in great position. Then we had a little bit of a skid, but we thought we were still in great shape. We really didn't play our best game. That's what I'm disappointed with." Although they rebounded from it, the Bucs' horrible beginning set the tone for a team that obviously doesn't know the ins and outs of a big game. On the Bucs' first three plays, they committed a special-teams holding penalty on the opening kickoff; threw an interception to linebacker Ron Cox; and saw Salaam rip through them for 15 yards and a 7-0 Bears lead. The Bucs tied it at 7 on Copeland's catch, but a 1-yard Salaam scoring run was set up when Bears cornerback Kevin Miniefield made his first of two interceptions, in the end zone, with 6:06 remaining in the first quarter. Tampa Bay drew no closer than 14-10 on Husted's kick with 7:29 left in the first half, and wasted a scoring opportunity due to bungled clock management at the close of the second quarter. "Today was just a day where we tried to do a little too much, and bit off more than we could chew," Bucs linebacker Lonnie Marts said. "That's usually when we lose." In Tampa Bay's case, the same thing could be said for playing in Soldier Field.