The Buccaneers wrapped up their 2015 home schedule with their third consecutive defeat as another combination of turnovers and missed chances cost them any chance of success against the Bears. Having taken an early lead after Jeremiah George blocked a punt to set up Doug Martin’s four-yard TD run, it was all Chicago ball control from then on as the Tampa defense was simply unable to get a stop. Jameis Winston’s 50-yard improvised score to Charles Sims provided an early third quarter hope but the only other Tampa score came in the final seconds on a Hail Mary score to Austin Seferian-Jenkins. The loss condemned the Bucs to another home losing season as they fell to 3-5 in games played at Raymond James Stadium.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 21 Chicago Bears 26 Sunday 27 December 2015 at Raymond James Stadium
SCORING TB 6:27-1Q Martin 4 run (Barth kick) CHI 11:35-2Q Carey 1 run (Gould kick) CHI 3:00-2Q Gould FG26 CHI 0:00-2Q Gould FG27 TB 11:24-3Q Sims 50 pass from Winston (Barth kick) CHI 14:55-4Q Carey 1 pass from Cutler (Gould kick) CHI 9:04-4Q Gould FG50 CHI 1:07-4Q Gould FG39 TB 0:01-4Q Seferian-Jenkins 43 pass from Winston (Barth kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Martin 17-49, Sims 4-45, Winston 4-10. BEARS: Langford 19-83, Forte 11-54, Cutler 2-21, Carey 7-16. PASSING BUCS: Winston 29-15-295-1-2. BEARS: Cutler 27-20-156-0-1. RECEIVING BUCS: Evans 4-61, Sims 3-72, Seferian-Jenkins 2-60, Brate 1- 46, Shepard 1-18, Dye 1-15, Humphries 1-10, Stocker 1-7, Martin 1-6. BEARS: Miller 7-69, Royal 5-21, Forte 3-23, Mariani 2-32, Bellamy 2-10, Carey 1-1. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: none. BEARS: Jones-Quartey 1-23. KICK RETURNS BUCS: Dye 1-19. BEARS: none. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: Rainey 2-3. BEARS: Mariani 1-5. SACKS BUCS: McCoy 1-3. BEARS: McPhee 1-10.
STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 76 Smith LDE 94 Johnson LG 70 Mankins DT 93 McCoy C 68 Hawley DT 77 McDaniel RG 74 Marpet RDE 56 Smith RT 69 Dotson MLB 50 Carter TE 88 Stocker WLB 54 David TE 87 Seferian-Jenkins CB 27 Banks WR 13 Evans LCB 26 Moore WR 17 Dye RCB 21 Verner QB 3 Winston SS 37 Tandy RB 22 Martin FS 30 McDougald PLAYED 5 Schum, 10 Barth, 11 Humphries, 24 Jenkins, 31 Wright, 34 Sims, 38 Adjei-Barimah, 43 Rainey, 46 Lane, 48 DePaola, 51 Lansanah, 52 George, 53 Glanton, 57 Keyes, 64 Pamphile, 84 Brate, 89 Shepard, 90 Melton, 91 Bowers, 92 Gholston, 95 Jones DID NOT PLAY 8 Glennon, 62 Smith, 78 Cherilus INACTIVES 4 Griffin, 23 Conte, 25 James, 59 Brown, 82 Myers, 83 Jackson, 85 Spencer
COMMENTARY CREW Sam Rosen and Matt Millen
GAME REPORTS Roy Cummings reports on another game that went by the wayside Martin Fennelly sees a season of progress halted by the late swoon Doug Martin’s two fumbles prove costly for the Pro Bowl-bound back Jeremiah George made a big impact with his first quarter punt block Charles Sims proved to be the back in the spotlight with his performance The defense could not stop the Bears when it really needed to First and 10 - some notes and observations from the game The official NFL gamebook Scott Smith’s detailed game report
GAME HIGHLIGHTS Click on the boxes below to view the clips Jeremiah George blocked a first quarter punt to set up the opening Buccaneer score Jameis Winston scrambles in the pocket and then hits Charles Sims down the left sideline for a score A Hail Mary pass to Austin Seferian-Jenkins gave Buc fans something to celebrate in the final seconds