The Buccaneers lost on a late field goal – by a former Bucs kicker to make matters worse – and fell to 3-2 on the season with a 20-19 loss to the Chicago Bears. There was plenty of blame to go around on both sides of the ball, and also by the coaching staff.

Here is our weekly list of the most disappointing Bucs from Thursday night.

QB Tom Brady

This selection undoubtably will cause a lot of debate, as it did with our staff following the game, but at the end of the night Brady failed to deliver a win against a team that the Bucs should have beaten.

First of all, his coaches did him no favors. Byron Leftwich called possibly his worst game in his 21-game career as offensive coordinator. The last two drives were as bad of a series of play calls as we have seen since former Lovie Smith O.C. Marcus Arroyo was on the headset. His offensive line looked discombobulated for almost the entire second half, and head coach Bruce Arians couldn’t decide if he wanted to risk it, or forgo the biscuit for a slice of plain Wonder Bread.

But as far as Brady’s responsibility in the loss, his decision making on the last drive was that of a rookie and not a 20-year veteran quarterback. His first pass of the last drive was a first down completion to Mike Evans, but his next pass for Evans was wildly off target. On third down, his pass to tight end Rob Gronkowski was off target and could have been picked off, and his fourth down pass to Cameron Brate was just a poor decision when needing only five yards.

There was zero reason for a desperation throw in that situation. There was still 38 seconds left and the Bucs only needed about 25 yards to get in Ryan Succop’s range to win the game. And despite what Arians and other players said, Brady was absolutely confused on the down after the last play. Whether it was Brady’s fault or Leftwich in his ear saying it was third down, there are scoreboards all over Soldier Field that say what down it is, and also the sideline marker on the chains.

The bottom line is – Tom Brady was brought to Tampa Bay to win games like this. Games where things go poorly, the officials are terrible and his offensive line struggles. As the old saying goes, a quarterback gets too much credit after a win and too much blame after loss. But there is a reason they are usually the highest-paid player on the team and criticism is part of playing the position.

Bucs Offensive Line

It was an awful, dreadful night by the Bucs offensive line. Penalties, poor blocking, miscommunication – as good as the Bucs line played last Sunday, it was just as bad on Thursday night. Left tackle Donovan Smith had two false starts and a holding call, while surrendering at least one sack. Tristan Wirfs for the first time this season played like the rookie he is, giving up a sack to Khalil Mack and also had a penalty. Ryan Jensen joined his teammates in making a bonehead mistake, picking up a personal foul for head-butting a Bears player. Brady was under siege all night, particularly in the second half, and was officially hit eight times and sacked three times.

The line did help Ronald Jones average 6.2 yards per carry and pick up 106 yards on 17 carries but at the end of the day, they won’t win many – if any – games with a performance like that again.

Bucs Coaching Staff

The entire coaching staff shares some blame in this loss. From head-scratching play calls by Leftwich, to questionable decisions by Arians, to a puzzling game plan at times by defensive coordinator Todd Bowles, this wasn’t a well-coached game. Even special teams coordinator Keith Armstrong’s kickoff return unit was poor giving up an average of 39.7 yards on three kickoff returns.

And we can’t list unit deficiencies without mentioning offensive line coaches Harold Godwin and Joe Gilbert who didn’t have their guys prepared to handle the Bears pass rush.

The Bucs have one of, if not the largest coaching staff in the NFL, and the Glazers pay a lot of money to see better results from their employees.

OLB Shaq Barrett

Barrett ended the night with three tackles and one QB pressure, but when his team needed a sack the most, he wasn’t able to come through. Barrett was also flagged for a roughing-the-passer call that was questionable at the very least, but the penalty came on third down, giving the Bears another set of downs. Barrett had a ton of one-on-one looks on Thursday night, but was just a step late all night long.

RB Ke’Shawn Vaughn 

Vaughn’s fumble after a vicious hit right before the half, helped spark the Bears’ comeback after they were down 13-0 through the first 25 minutes of the game. On the play prior Vaughn dropped a pass on the sideline. The Bears took advantage of the short field and ended up scoring a touchdown to put them ahead 14-13 going into the half. Vaughn finished the nigh with two catches for just five yards.