Some just couldn't be bothered Gary Shelton, The St.Petersburg Times, published 18 December 1995 And so we come here today to bury another Bucs season. May it rest in peace. They died here Sunday. Of course they did. The Bucs always go to Chicago to die. They have had so many seasons killed here that Soldier Field should be considered sacred burial ground. And so it happened again. Nothing new there. Nothing new about taking the dreams of the Bucs and planting them in ground colder than a Glazer's heart. Nope. Nothing new here, except the size of the dreams. This time, what was buried was the chance of a winning season. The chance at the playoffs. The chance of grasping a big game with both hands and turning it into a big season. And the Bucs lost, 31-10. All that is left is the autopsy. Why didn't the Bucs get this game? Because the Bucs don't get it, period. There still is a long way to go for this team. Players proved it on the field, where too many Bucs still make too many bad plays. And they proved it in the locker room, where too many Bucs care about too many of the wrong things. Over there, Alvin Harper was complaining about the number of passes thrown his way. On this day, of all days. He was not talking about the defeat. He was talking about statistics. Over there, Sam Wyche was talking about how his team "made another step toward being a good football team" and how "it's been a whale of a year." Not about his two-minute drill at the end of the first half when, down by four, he kept the ball on the ground. Not about a team that has won twice in two months and is the lowest-scoring team in the NFL. Over there, Lamar Thomas was yelling at the media, profanely accusing reporters of reporting only the negative. Maybe he had a point. Those reporters were in the Bucs' locker room, after all. When a team has had something treasured grabbed out of its hands, this is not the way it acts. It is, however, typical of the Bucs to snarl in all the wrong directions, to misidentify the enemy while the real one celebrates next door. On the other hand, there were war horses in the room who talked painfully of where this team is, and where it has to go. If there is anything positive out of a day so negative, it is those who at least had the awareness to hurt over it. Defensive end Chidi Ahanotu sat in front of his locker for a long time, staring into space. "We need to grow up," he said. "We have to learn to win a big game on the road. I mean, half the games are on the road." On the other side of the room, Tony Mayberry's head was hung, and he was coughing loudly. "We had the chance to do something special," he managed to say between the coughs. Mayberry started to talk about finishing 8-8 with a win next week, then caught himself. "Eight-and-eight really s----," he said. "But it's all we have left." There were others. Hardy Nickerson. Ian Beckles, Brad Culpepper. Players who were hurt and surprised by the mediocre play of the previous three hours, because they dared to believe something better would happen. Sadly, there was not a locker room full of the same attitude. Until there is, this team will not succeed. Until a loss like this affects everyone the same way, this team will continue to suffer them. Keep in mind what kind of opponent we are talking about here. The Bears had lost 5 of 6. In Chicago, they refer to this Bears' defense as the worst in 20 years. And the Bucs scored all of 10 points. This, on a day when the cosmos seemed to be aligned for Tampa Bay. Trent Dilfer threw a touchdown pass. Michael Husted had a field goal hit the crossbar and bounce over good. Kevin Butler had a field goal hit the upright and bounce back no good. Rashaan Salaam was running for a touchdown and fumbled 42 yards downfield. And the Bucs still lost by three touchdowns. They started the game with a bad play on special teams, a bad play on offense and a bad play on defense. They had a player commit two pass interference penalties on one play. They were shut out in the second half. When it came down to it, they still were the Bucs. Pity that it didn't bother enough of them.