Chances slipping away
Roy Cummings, The Tampa Tribune , published 17 December 2001

Let's face it, winning the NFC Central Division title was a pipe dream. It has been ever since the Bucs fell to 4-5 back in November. Same goes for hosting a playoff game at Raymond James Stadium. Now, in the wake of their demoralizing and potentially devastating 27-3 loss to the playoff-bound Bears at Soldier Field on Sunday, the playoffs themselves are starting to look like a pipe dream.

Oh, they still have a chance. A victory next week against the Saints is a must, though. Beyond that, the Bucs almost certainly will have to beat either the Ravens or the Eagles, if not both, to get there. All of that certainly is possible. After all, the Bucs have won three in a row following a loss to the Bears before, and they do have that unnerving tendency to bounce up off the mat.

But after Sunday's effort, one in which the Bucs shattered three of football's cardinal sins by failing to run the ball, failing to stop the run, and failing to hold on to the ball when they did run with it or throw it, what's to make anyone believe the Bucs will do that this time? Shoot, the players themselves don't even seem sure anymore. “You'd like to call this a fluke, but it wasn't,” safety John Lynch said after the Bears broke the Bucs' three-game winning streak on a wet, grey day. “We're not the most consistent team.”

Some would beg to differ. After all, the offense has consistently struggled to run the ball this year, and that certainly didn't change Sunday when the Bucs' 18 rushes produced just 61 yards. What the Bucs have done rather consistently is move the ball through the air. However, against an incessant blitz that enabled the Bears to knock down four passes at the line of scrimmage, the Bucs' passing game produced just 191 yards and twice turned the ball over in the red zone, once on a Brad Johnson interception in the end zone and once on a Keyshawn Johnson fumble at the Bears' 8-yard line. “We worked our game plan to perfection today” Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher said. “We stopped the run, blitzed them silly and made plays on defense.”

A lot of those plays came on third down. After converting two of their first three third- down tries, the Bucs failed to convert each of their next 11 and finished with a third-down efficiency rating of 14 percent. The biggest play of the day was made by Bears cornerback Walt Harris, who came up from behind a streaking Keyshawn Johnson and knocked the ball loose just as it seemed he was going to reach the end zone. “We just couldn't figure out how to put the ball in the end zone,” said Keyshawn Johnson, whose fumble late in the first half with the Bucs trailing 10-3 helped turn the game in Chicago's favour. “But there are bigger issues here than Keyshawn Johnson. Trust me on that.”

His quarterback is one of them. In his past four games, he has thrown just one touchdown and four interceptions. The offensive line remains another concern, as does the running game, which moved the ball adequately in the first half but hardly at all in the second. Aside from those issues and the offense's continued lack of aggressiveness, the biggest issues were turnovers. Not only did Brad Johnson get intercepted twice, but he also fumbled the ball away once.

When the Bucs forced a turnover (Donnie Abraham intercepted Bears quarterback Jim Miller with Chicago leading 3-0 late in the second quarter), the offense failed to take full advantage, settling for a field goal. That marked the second time this season the Bucs failed to score an offensive touchdown. You can't pin this one entirely on the offense, though. The defense, which had played playoff calibre football for several weeks, had a relapse Sunday.

In addition to allowing quarterback Jim Miller and wide receiver David Terrell to hook up on a 62-yard pass play, it also yielded 207 yards rushing. Bears rookie Anthony Thomas ran for 173 yards on 31 carries for the eighth-best single-game rushing total ever against the Bucs. “They made some holes and we missed some tackles,” Derrick Brooks said. “That's a bad combination.”

Here's another one: The Saints and running back Ricky Williams. They come to town next week, and with the Bucs needing a win to keep their playoff hopes alive, Tony Dungy fears his defense could be in for another long day. “We've opened up Pandora's box in the run defense,” Dungy said. “I'm sure [New Orleans] will look at the tape of this game, so we've got to look at it, make the corrections and see what the problem was.”

That's not all Dungy said. In addressing his players afterward, he pointed in the direction of the Bears' locker room and in reference to Sunday's victory, said, “That's what a playoff team looks like.” It was hard to argue. The victory assured the Bears of their first playoff berth since 1994. The Bucs, meanwhile, are assured of nothing. As Brooks pointed out, though, they do have hope. “Hey, the last time we lost to these guys we bounced back and won three straight,” he said. “All we have to do is make sure we do it again.”