Carlson lacks hot hand in debut
Don Banks, The St.Petersburg Times, published 16 December 1991

He was so relaxed about making his first start as an NFL quarterback, Jeff Carlson went out Saturday afternoon and had himself a cold one. Icy cold. But forgive Carlson if his frosty mug wasn't smiling after Chicago blew past Tampa Bay 27-0 in a nationally televised encounter. The whole occasion left a flat taste in his mouth. "It's definitely bittersweet," said Carlson, who for nearly three years roamed an NFL sideline, waiting for his day to come.

"I'm very thankful for the opportunity, and I hope it comes again soon. But with all the things stacked against us, it was a difficult situation to come into. But I was trying to make everything positive and play off everything that was stacked against us. It just seemed like we were going uphill all day."

Or at the very least, against the wind. With gusts up to 40 miles per hour and a sub-zero wind chill at kickoff (minus-6 degrees), Carlson's memories of his starting debut likely will come to him in freeze-frame. "It wasn't easy out there," said Carlson, in classic understatement. "We played into their hands a little bit. The weather made us play to them. We played more of their game than we did ours, especially in the first half. We kept turning the ball over, making our defense work super hard."

The Bears' defense, however, hardly broke a sweat. With Carlson at the wheel and the wind in its face, the Tampa Bay offense put up an array of statistics that boggled the mind. To wit: The Bucs' 106 yards of total offense (52 rushing, 54 passing) was a season low. Fifty-five of those yards came on a fourth-quarter drive after Chicago had scored its final points.

Entering the fourth quarter, Carlson had completed as many passes to the Bears (two) as he had the Bucs (2-of-6 for 0 net yards). He finished 8-of-18 with three interceptions and four sacks. To go with his 87 yards of offense (76 gross passing, 11 rushing), Carlson accounted for nearly as much negative yardage (minus-81 on 59 yards of interception returns and 22 yards on sacks).

Five of Tampa Bay's nine possessions lasted fewer than two minutes. Unsurprisingly, Chicago owned a 2-to-1 possession edge in the game (40:08 to 19:52). "Personally speaking, this is the low point," tailback Reggie Cobb said. "This is the worst day we've had all year. We couldn't get two first downs in a row. They're a good defensive team, but we should have done something today. But the wind had a lot to do with our passing game, and I don't know if we're a disciplined enough team to just line up and pound the ball at anybody yet."

"It seemed like every time they got the ball, the wind changed," said receiver Lawrence Dawsey, who became the Bucs' all-time rookie reception leader (52) with four catches for 36 yards. "I was like, `Goodness, is this a home-field advantage or what?' It makes you wonder. It was difficult, very difficult. I ain't never played in anything like it in my life."

Whenever the Bears didn't manage to pin Carlson's hands behind him, the Bucs' limited offensive game plan did. "In hindsight, yeah, I do wish we would've opened it up a little bit earlier and let us try to do something," Carlson said. "We were down 13-0 pretty early, and we didn't have a lot to lose."

The question is, how much status did Carlson lose in the eyes of those planning the Bucs' future? Saturday's debacle of a debut couldn't have helped. "Here it is, it's on CBS national TV and Carlson's going to get his first start," receiver Willie Drewrey said. "You've got to sympathize with the guy. They put him in a situation where it was very tough. Since he lost, now all of a sudden he's got to deal with the question of whether he can handle that type of situation ever again? The interceptions, the fumble, that made it look like this guy shouldn't be in there. But he was just put in a bad situation."

"(People) will think what they want to think," said Carlson, who took over for the injured Vinny Testaverde. "I'm not worried about what people around the country are thinking about me as a quarterback right now. I'll be back to do some good things in the future. I don't think I got to show what I can do. I think you let me go again and evaluate me later. I'm not happy with the way I played, but one game's not going to shake my confidence."