It’s all gone so wrong for the Bucs to start the 2026 season, and now at 0-3, they’ll be starting undrafted rookie Jalon Daniels under center in Week 4 this Sunday when the 1-2 Packers come to Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

With Baker Mayfield out at least three weeks with a dislocated thumb, it’s on Daniels — the first undrafted rookie quarterback to start a regular season game in franchise history — to help pull this team up off the mat and give Mayfield something meaningful to come back to once he’s healthy.

It’s a tough stretch ahead, as the Packers are in town Sunday before the Bucs have a quick turnaround with a road Thursday Night Football contest against the Cowboys four days later. Then, the Steelers are in town for Week 6 before the team finally plays an NFC South opponent with a trip to Carolina to face the Panthers in Week 7.

The Packers come into town this Sunday reeling in their own right, with a late rally-turned-overtime victory over the Jets in Week 2 being the only thing that separated them from joining the Bucs at 0-3. They lost 37-22 to the Vikings in Week 1, then lost 35-14 to the previously winless Falcons on Thursday Night Football in Week 3. So, Matt LaFleur and Co. are desperate for a win in this one to even up their record at 2-2 before facing the rival Bears in Week 5.

Here’s a general preview of Sunday’s game between two struggling teams at Ray Jay:

The Last Time…

The Bucs and Packers last met Dec. 17, 2023, a day that saw Baker Mayfield make history by becoming the first-ever visiting quarterback to post a perfect 158.3 passer rating at Lambeau Field. The Bucs won the game 34-20, and the third of what wound up being four straight wins to begin that December was key in helping them eventually capture the NFC South title on the final day of the regular season.

Packers QB Jordan Love and Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: IMAGN Images – Jeff Hanisch

A 5-yard Jordan Love touchdown pass to Tucker Kraft gave Green Bay a 7-3 lead near the end of the first quarter before Tampa Bay responded with a seven-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a 19-yard touchdown pass from Mayfield to Mike Evans. By halftime, the visitors had a 13-10 lead.

Early in the third, a 26-yard touchdown pass from Mayfield to Rachaad White gave the Bucs a 20-10 lead, but a 17-yard scoring pass from Love to Jayden Reed in response once again made it a one-possession game. Then, before the end of the third quarter, Mayfield threw his third touchdown pass of the day — a 2-yarder to Ko Kieft — to put Tampa Bay up 27-17.

The Packers got back within 27-20 in the fourth, but the eventual dagger would come via Mayfield’s fourth touchdown pass of the day, one that went to David Moore for a catch and run of 52 yards. That sealed the Buccaneer victory and helped No. 6 — in his first season with Tampa Bay at the time — finish 22-of-28 for 381 yards and four scores. Despite not catching one of those four touchdowns, Chris Godwin Jr. was the game’s leading receiver with 10 catches on 12 targets for 155 yards (15.5 avg.).

The Packers lead the all-time regular season series between these two teams 33-23-1, but the Bucs won the most recent meeting and have won three of the last four matchups (including the playoffs).

How The Bucs And Packers Are Trending

These are two teams that enter Week 4 with some desperation. The Bucs, for their part, are in a worse spot — but maybe not by much. Tampa Bay comes in at 0-3 after going winless in the month of September for the first time since 2013, when the team started 0-8 before eventually finishing 4-12. Very little has looked good from this Bucs team thus far, and that was with starting quarterback Baker Mayfield healthy. Granted, Mayfield wasn’t playing well. But Zac Robinson‘s offense as a whole has looked like a disjointed mess, and now it’s without its QB1 for at least the next three games due to his dislocated thumb.

Now, it’s on undrafted rookie Jalon Daniels to step in and try to gather this disappointing and underperforming offense in an effort to save the season. Daniels had an impressive preseason and wound up winning the backup quarterback job from veteran signal-caller Jake Browning, much to the delight of many Buccaneer fans. But there’s a difference between lighting up the practice fields at the AdventHealth Training Center and even preseason games — which largely saw him facing second-teamers, if not third- and fourth-teamers — and coming in to save an 0-3 team that is 0-3 largely because of a broken offense.

Bucs QB Jalon Daniels – Photo by: IMAGN Images via Reuters Connect

As WTSP’s Evan Closky highlighted this week, what’s gone wrong with the Bucs offense goes far beyond the players themselves. Everything about the operation under Robinson looks off. So, while the interior of the offensive line needs to be better, the skill players need to make plays and the quarterback has to see what’s in front of him and get the ball to his receivers, Robinson has to be better. Maybe some of the changes he’s forced into with Daniels at the helm rather than Mayfield will help simplify things and lead to a smoother operation. If not, it’s hard to imagine things looking much better with the rookie leading the offense.

Defensively, the Bucs actually took a step forward in Week 3, albeit against a Vikings offense led by a shaky Kyler Murray and without Justin Jefferson much of the day. Still, Tampa Bay’s defense allowed only one touchdown and three field goals, with an 86-yard punt return touchdown looming larger in the 23-16 loss.

Vita Vea was finally a factor with two pressures and two passes defensed, one of which led to an A’Shawn Robinson interception. Robinson continued to be everything he was advertised to be, the defensive front as a whole stifled any efforts to run the football and the unit had some success rushing passer, with David Walker notching his second sack in two weeks and Anthony Nelson adding one.

The defense, while certainly falling short at times, hasn’t been the reason for the Bucs’ 0-3 start. If anything, Todd Bowles’ group has improved each week and could be primed to take advantage of a struggling Green Bay offensive line this Sunday.

Bucs OLB David Walker – Photo by: Cliff Welch P/R

And while it’s not exactly “the funny thing” as Bowles said it was, the Bucs are just one game back of first place in the NFC South. That’s why they might only be in a slightly worse spot than the Packers despite being winless and without their starting quarterback for at least the next three weeks.

The other side of things is a 1-2 Packers team that hasn’t looked good at all through three weeks and has less leeway in a tough NFC North picture that includes the 3-0 Vikings, the 2-1 Lions and the 2-1 Bears, who just dominated the Eagles on Monday Night Football even without quarterback Caleb Williams. In other words, the last-place Packers are up against it already and needing to turn it around quickly. The Bucs could be just what the doctor ordered, of course, but Matt LeFleur’s team comes to Raymond James Stadium this Sunday with its own set of problems.

The offensive line has been an absolute disaster in front of quarterback Jordan Love through three weeks, leaving the franchise quarterback under constant duress. Not helping matters is the unit’s inability to pave the way for the Josh Jacobs-less backfield, which has mustered up the least production in the NFL so far this season.

Packers offensive line – Photo by: IMAGN Images via Reuters Connect

While Green Bay’s offense can’t run the football, its defense can’t stop the run. The Packers are 28th in the league against the run and just allowed 194 yards on the ground to Bijan Robinson last Thursday. If there’s any path for the Bucs to get anything going offensively, it’s on the ground via the legs of Bucky Irving and the rest of his backfield mates. Maybe that even includes Sean Tucker for once.

The Packers are also sorely missing top edge rusher Micah Parsons, who is on injured reserve and will miss Sunday’s game. If there’s any time for the Buccaneer offensive line to rebound and keep the team’s rookie quarterback upright and on schedule, maybe this is the right matchup.

The intangible advantages may ultimately lean in the Packers’ favor in this game, despite the fact that they lost by 15 to the Vikings, needed overtime to escape the upstart Jets and then lost by 21 to the Falcons in the first three weeks. They had a mini-bye after that Thursday night game, giving them extra rest and prep time. And while they’re the road team, it’s unlikely to be a very hostile environment for them to walk into given the lack of faith the Bucs fan base has in its team and the continued struggle of opposing fans taking over the lower bowl — or like last week against the Vikings, much of the stadium.

Here’s how the two teams stack up with the rest of the league through the first three weeks of the 2026 season:

Bucs Offense: 19th in scoring offense (20.7 PPG), 27th in total offense (279.3 yards per game), 26th in passing offense (185.0 yards per game), T-23rd in rushing offense (94.3 yards per game)

Packers Offense: 22nd in scoring offense (18.7 PPG), 16th in total offense (315.3 yards per game), T-4th in passing offense (266.7 yards per game), 32nd in rushing offense (48.7 yards per game)

Bucs Defense: 23rd in scoring defense (26.3 points allowed per game), 6th in total defense (282.7 yards allowed per game), 12th in passing defense (206.7 yards allowed per game), 2nd in run defense (76.0 yards allowed per game)

Packers Defense: T-29th in scoring defense (30.3 points allowed per game), 21st in total defense (340.7 yards allowed per game), 11th in passing defense (202.0 yards allowed per game), 28th in run defense (138.7 yards allowed per game)

As of Wednesday night, the Packers are 3.5-point road favorites with an Over/Under set at 39 (per Hard Rock Bet).

Bucs vs. Packers Game Information

When: Sunday, October 4
Where: Raymond James Stadium (Tampa, FL)
Kickoff: 1:00 p.m. ET
TV: FOX – Chris Myers (Play by Play), Jonathan Vilma (Analyst), Jen Hale (Reporter)
Bucs Radio: 98Rock – Tony Castricone (Play by Play), Dave Moore (Color), Jay Recher (Reporter)
Spanish Radio: 96.1 Caliente – Martín Gramática, Santiago Gramática