Tampa Bay forced five turnovers against Chicago on Sunday night, including a career-high four interceptions thrown by Bears quarterback Caleb Williams.
In most contests, that would be a recipe for victory. The Bucs, however, came up short after a second-half comeback to tie the game.
After falling behind 14-0, the Bucs were strong defensively, but the Bears took advantage of a last-minute coverage mistake to send Tampa Bay to its sixth loss of the season.
Williams found an uncovered Colston Loveland for a 38-yard catch and run to set up Cairo Santos' 38-yard field goal as time expired to give the Bears a 27-24 victory.
"You know, if that's one of the top teams, if not the top team in the league, we're right there," said Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield, who rallied Tampa Bay to a 24-24 tie on the previous drive after a Bears' fumble, their fifth turnover.
The Bucs (3-6) were able to move the ball at times but had to settle for three field goals by Chase McLaughlin. Tampa Bay totaled 352 yards but converted just two of 12 third-down attempts.
The four Chicago interceptions produced just three points for Tampa Bay. One resulted in the Bucs giving Chicago the ball back on downs, another in a punt, another in a McLaughlin field goal to close the first half, and the last a Mayfield interception that the Bears returned for a TD.
"We got to capitalize on them," Bowles said. "I mean, we got to score points, and we can't give them the ball back. And (we) got to be better on third down on both sides of the ball."
As well as Tampa Bay's defense played, it was a blown coverage on the final drive that allowed Chicago to move into position for the walk-off field goal.
On second-and-nine from their own 46, Loveland was left uncovered at the Bucs' 35-yard line and ran 10 yards after the catch with no Tampa Bay player near him. He was pushed out of bounds at the Tampa Bay 16 with 40 seconds left.
"We busted. Shouldn't happen," Bowles said.
After two kneel-downs by Williams, Santos sent the crowd of 60,470 at Chicago's Soldier Field home happy by drilling his second field goal of the night.
“I don’t get gun shy. That’s not me. That’s not my identity,” Williams said. “And with that, I’m going to keep ripping it and keep ripping it.”
Chicago (7-2) had a 24-16 lead when rookie Rueben Bain forced Luther Burden's fumble with 3:38 left and safety Ifeatu Melifonwu returned the ball to the Bears' 17.
Melifonwu was playing for Antoine Winfield Jr., who left the game in the second quarter with an ankle injury.
Bucky Irving had an 11-yard carry before going in from the 6 for his second touchdown of the game. Mayfield scrambled for the 2-point conversion, tying it at 24 with 2:51 left.
Mayfield was 18-for-32 for 243 yards and two interceptions. A week ago on a wet field against Atlanta, Mayfield did not complete a pass as the Bucs ran for a franchise-record 324 yards in a 16-0 win.
Irving finished with 97 yards on 20 carries against the Bears.
"We're not going to be able to run the ball and win ball games," Bowles said. "We're going to have to throw. We're going to have to catch it. I thought we dropped some easy balls early on as well that contributed to a lot of things, but we kind of chipped our way."
Williams completed 22 of 37 for 279 yards and two touchdowns in Chicago’s fourth straight win. Burden had seven catches for 97 yards before he was shelved by a concussion. Jeffery Simmons had a sack in his first home game since he was acquired in a trade with Tennessee.
The Bucs and Bears were the NFL’s top rushing teams going into the weekend, but there wasn’t much room to maneuver on the ground. The Bucs finished with 126 yards rushing, and the Bears had 72.
Chicago had a 17-13 lead when Williams threw his fourth interception of the night, a deflected ball that landed in the hands of Tampa Bay linebacker Alex Anzalone. The Bucs took over at the Bears' 37 with 4:32 left in the third quarter.
One play later, Mayfield tried to throw the ball to Cade Otton, but Jaylon Johnson stepped in front of the tight end and returned the interception 67 yards for his second career pick-6. It was his first interception of the season.
"Probably should have thrown it somewhere else," Bowles said. "Obviously, it's easy to say in hindsight, but you know we don't like turnovers. We've been doing a good job of not turning it over. We can't turn it over. He knows that. He understands that."
Mayfield said it was "obviously the difference in the game."
"It just sucks," he said. "But you know, the team fought, stayed in it."
Chicago got off to a fast start, scoring on its first two possessions. Williams passed to a wide-open Rome Odunze for a 9-yard touchdown on the first drive of the game. Then Burden broke a couple of tackles while turning a third-and-8 reception into a 56-yard TD, making it 14-0 with 6:00 left in the first quarter.
But the next two possessions for the Bears ended with interceptions by Williams, and the Bucs rallied by scoring on each side of halftime. McLaughlin kicked a 21-yard field goal on the final play of the first half, and Tez Johnson’s 58-yard catch set up Irving’s 2-yard TD early in the third.
"I think we had to settle down," Bowles said of his defense. "I thought everybody was a little antsy starting the game the first two drives, and after that, once we settled down, I thought we played well."
Tampa Bay goes in its bye week a half-game behind NFC South leaders Carolina and New Orleans (both 3-5). The Bucs' play at Detroit on Nov. 22.
"We're trying to take care of ourselves," Bowles said. "We're not worried about any other team in our division right now. We know if we take care of us, we're going to be fine, and we still feel that way, and we think that way. We've been playing some good football of late.
"We get a week off. A lot of people are sore. We got to hone in and come back, and we got to take it and we got to finish this thing."
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
