Tampa Bay Buccaneers 14 Chicago Bears 34 Sunday 2 September 1984 at Soldier Field
SCORING CHI 11:15-1Q Thomas FG29 TB 12:15-2Q Carter 74 pass from Thompson (Ariri kick) CHI 5:45-2Q Thomas FG32 CHI 2:40-3Q McMahon 9 run (Thomas kick) CHI 8:31-3Q Gault 21 pass from McMahon (Thomas kick) CHI 6:37-3Q Suhey 1 run (Thomas kick) CHI 5:02-4Q Hutchinson 1 run (Thomas kick) TB 3:16-4Q Owens 4 pass from DeBerg (Ariri kick)
Not a good season opener as the Bucs lost their first game of the year for fhe third straight season. Eight turnovers including six interceptions, although three of Jack Thompson's picks were deflected balls. Thompson did hit Gerald Carter on a second quarter bomb that did give the Bucs a short-lived lead. The three Chicago TD drives in the second half covered a total of 25 yards following three of the Tampa turnovers. Steve DeBerg relieved Thompson in the fourth quarter and did throw a late scoring pass to James Owens.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Wilder 16-73, Thompson 1-13, Armstrong 1-3. BEARS: Payton 16-61, Suhey 14-57, Thomas 4-25, McMahon 3-21, Jordan 3-18, Gentry 7-5, Hutchinson 2-(-4). PASSING BUCS: Thompson 17-4-105-4-1, DeBerg 10-5-96-2-1. BEARS: McMahon 22-16-138-1-1, Avellini 1-1-17-0-0. RECEIVING BUCS: Carter 2-86, Wilder 2-56, Giles 2-41, House 1-12, Owens 1-4, Armstrong 1-2. BEARS: Payton 6-18, Suhey 4-30, Gault 2-40, McKinnon 2-23, Saldi 1-20, Baschnagel 1-17, Gentry 1-7. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: Brown 1-14. BEARS: Fencik 2-64, Harris 1-34, Singletary 1-4, Richardson 1-0, Schmidt 1-0. KICK RETURNS BUCS: Owens 4-61, Morton 2-54, Wood 1-6. BEARS: Cameron 2-37. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: T.Bell 1-0. BEARS: Fisher 2-13. SACKS BUCS: Washington 1-8, Green 1-3. BEARS: Keys 1-15, Hampton 1-11, Hartenstine 1-10, Singletary 1-0.
STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 74 Sanders LDE 78 Cannon LG 65 Jackson DT 76 Logan C 50 Wilson RDE 63 Selmon RG 62 Farrell LOLB 56 Johnson RT 70 Thomas LILB 58 Davis TE 88 Giles RILB 52 Brantley WR 89 House ROLB 53 Green WR 87 Carter LCB 23 Castille QB 14 Thompson RCB 21 Holt FB 46 Armstrong SS 43 Reece RB 32 Wilder FS 34 Brown PLAYED 2 Ariri, 5 Garcia, 16 Kiel, 17 DeBerg, 20 Morton, 26 Owens, 27 Acorn, 28 Carver, 33 Cotney, 40 Washington, 41 Thomas, 51 Washington, 54 Wood, 55 Spradlin, 57 Browner, 66 Reese, 71 Braggs, 72 Courson, 75 Manor, 79 Kaplan, 82 J Bell, 83 T Bell, 85 Witte, 86 Carroll DID NOT PLAY 60 Grimes, 73 Heller, 81 Tuttle
COMMENTARY CREW Tim Ryan and Johnny Morris
GAME HIGHLIGHTS Click on the boxes below to watch the clip Gerald Carter’s long touchdown pass was the only real highlight on offense Cedric Brown had an interception off an errant Jim McMahon pass A busted play led to Hugh Green recording his first sack of the season