It’s time for Scott Reynolds’ 2-Pt Conversion post-game column, which features two statements, two questions and two predictions based on the latest Bucs game.

The Bucs couldn’t capitalize on five takeaways by the defense – including four interceptions of Bears quarterback Caleb Williams – in a stunning, 27-24 loss at Chicago on Sunday Night Football. Baker Mayfield threw two interceptions, including a second half pick-six, as Tampa Bay fell to 3-6 heading into the team’s bye week. However, thanks to losses by 3-5 Carolina and 3-6 Atlanta, Tampa Bay remains alive in the NFC South division race.

2 BIG STATEMENTS

STATEMENT 1. Bucs Made A Huge Mistake Extending Baker Mayfield’s Contract

I don’t know about you, but if I’m the Glazers or general manager Jason Licht, I would want my superstar quarterback to do something extraordinary – other than just turning around and handing the ball off to running backs, and running for a two-point conversion. Especially after extending Baker Mayfield’s contract right before the start of the season and making an ill-timed – and awful in hindsight – decision to pay him $55 million per year through the 2029 season.

Because $55 million per year is Joe Burrow, Josh Allen and Trevor Lawrence money, and Mayfield isn’t in their class.

Not even close.

Mayfield played much closer to a $55 quarterback than a $55 million one in throwing two costly interceptions, including a second half pick-six, in a 27-24 loss at Chicago.

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: IMAGN Images via Reuters Connect

Tampa Bay’s loss on Sunday Night Football was further proof that the Bucs made a huge mistake in extending Mayfield’s contract when they did. Mayfield was prepared to play out his contract year in 2026 and the Bucs absolutely should have let him.

Outside of a beautiful, 58-yard pass to Tez Johnson and a nice improv throw to Kenny Gainwell that picked up 44 yards, there wasn’t much to like about Mayfield’s passes when they left his hand. A great quarterback can’t just have two great passes in a game – not when he throws 32 of them.

Turning around and handing the ball off to Bucky Irving, who rushed for 97 yards and two touchdowns, and running for a game-tying two-point conversion were the only other things Mayfield did well on Sunday Night Football. And that’s not why Mayfield was given top 5 QB money.

The Bucs paid Mayfield $55 million per year to throw the ball and throw it very well. Instead, Mayfield threw two awful interceptions where he stared down his receivers and allowed Bears defenders to jump those routes deep in Chicago territory.

It’s rare to say that the other quarterback outplayed you when he threw four interceptions, but Caleb Williams also threw a pair of touchdowns on Sunday Night Football, helping Chicago build an early 14-0 lead in the first quarter. Mayfield’s only touchdown of the night was to Bears defensive back Jaylon Johnson in the form of an awful pick-six late in the third quarter to give Chicago a 24-13 lead.

On a night where Todd Bowles’ defense recorded four interceptions – for a second straight week! – and forced and recovered a fumble, all Mayfield probably had to do was just be average and the Bucs likely would have won the game. Instead, Mayfield was really bad, completing 18-of-32 passes (56.3%) for 243 yards with two interceptions, getting sacked four times and generating a terrible 54.6 QB rating.

Bears DE Austin Booker and Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Mayfield and the Tampa Bay offense wasted a brilliant Bucs defensive performance and somehow squandered a plus-3 turnover margin advantage over Chicago.

The Bucs scored just 10 points off of those five takeaways in Chicago.

Think about that.

TEN points off FIVE takeaways.

That’s embarrassingly bad, and it tells you how feeble this Bucs passing game is this season under new offensive coordinator Zac Robinson – and how Mayfield just isn’t a difference-maker anymore.

It’s been exactly one calendar year since Mayfield’s last great performance – a three-touchdown, 273-yard game in a 27-24 loss to New England, which came on November 9 of last year. Including that loss, Mayfield’s record in games he’s started for Tampa Bay is just 4-11 since then.

Four wins and 11 losses, including a 2-4 record this year. And both of this year’s wins came courtesy of the offense running for 258 yards at Carolina and 324 yards versus Atlanta with Mayfield completing just 7-of-14 passes for 64 yards.

After last year’s Patriots game in Week 9, Mayfield only threw 10 touchdowns and nine interceptions down the stretch. This year, he’s thrown just three touchdowns and four interceptions. And let’s not forget those three costly fumbles in the Week 1 loss at Cincinnati.

I really like Baker Mayfield. He’s a likeable guy, has great energy, he’s a fierce competitor, and he’s easy to root for. So don’t think I’m hating on Mayfield.

I’m just doing my job as a reporter and a commentator, which is simply telling the truth and stating facts – painful ones in the case of Mayfield.

I just wish for the sake of this franchise that Mayfield was actually worth the $165 million the team agreed to pay him.

Nobody wishes that more than the Glazers and Licht right now.

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield and GM Jason Licht – Photo by: Matt Matera/PR

With the 2027 franchise tag in its back pocket, Tampa Bay had all the leverage over Mayfield and foolishly surrendered it for no reason, deciding to do an extension that even he didn’t see coming just prior to the start of the season. The team should have waited to see if he could truly rebound from a horrible, injury-filled second half of the 2025 season before committing to him long term, as Mayfield turns 32 next April.

And the Bucs should have waited see if he could truly get back to playing at his 2024 level under Robinson, or if Mayfield’s magical 2024 season was just a mirage under a truly great play-caller and quarterback whisperer in Liam Coen.

Nine games into the 2026 campaign with this team at 3-6 and the league’s worst-ranked passing game residing in Tampa Bay, we know the answer, don’t we? And it isn’t good.

The 2024 version of Mayfield might have been worth $55 million per year. This version? Not so much.

For the absurd amount of money he’s making, Mayfield should be the engine of the Bucs offense – not a running back playing on his rookie deal.

Now Tampa Bay appears stuck with him for at least through 2028 unless the Bucs decide to go the way of Tua Tagovailoa and Kyler Murray and admit they made a painful $165 million mistake and elect to move on.

STATEMENT 2. Bucs Wasted A Defensive Performance For The Ages

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have played over 800 regular season games in the franchise’s existence dating back to 1976. There have been 32 games in which the Bucs defense has recorded four interceptions. Two of them have happened this season – in back-to-back games against Atlanta and Chicago.

Tampa Bay’s record in those games is 29-3. Unfortunately, one of those losses happened on Sunday Night Football in the team’s 27-24 defeat at the hands of the now-7-2 Bears. After getting beaten for a touchdown early in the first quarter, cornerback Zyon McCollum rebounded by recording two second-quarter interceptions and is now tied for the team lead with a career-high four picks through the first nine games of the season.

Bucs CB Zyon McCollum – Photo by: IMAGN Images via Reuters Connect

Safety Tykee Smith started the INT-fest on Caleb Williams, picking him first in the second quarter for his second interception of the year. Inside linebacker Alex Anzalone recorded his fourth interception of the year – his third in two weeks – in the fourth quarter off Jacob Parrish’s 14th pass breakup of the year.

Rookie outside linebacker Rueben Bain Jr. also forced his first career fumble laying the wood on Bears receiver Luther Burden III, which knocked him out of the game. Reserve safety Ifeatu Melifonwu recovered the ball for the Bucs at the Chicago 17 with 3:38 left in regulation, keying Tampa Bay’s game-tying touchdown drive.

In the oddest stat of the night, the Bucs actually out-gained the Bears, 352 yards to 349 yards. That’s because Tampa Bay’s top-ranked run defense did its job and held Chicago to just 72 yards on the ground. For the Bucs to win the turnover margin 5:2 and still lose the game is an indictment about how poorly Zac Robinson’s offense performed, especially on third down where Tampa Bay converted just 2-of-12 attempts for a 16.7% conversion rate.

“We’ve got to capitalize on them,” Bucs head coach Todd Bowles said. “We’ve got to score points, and we can’t give the ball back. We’ve got to be better on third down on both sides of the ball.”

2 PROBING QUESTIONS

QUESTION 1. Should The Bucs Be Sellers At The Trade Deadline?

Yes, absolutely. The Bucs should look to deal Chris Godwin Jr., who had two catches on three targets for 16 yards, to a receiver-needy team like San Francisco or the Los Angeles Rams. Godwin isn’t even being used this year despite the fact that he’s making an average of $21 million per year. With a paltry 29 catches for 259 yards this year, there’s no way to justify keeping Godwin, who turns 31 next spring, for the 2027 season and pay him the $20.5 million base salary he’s owed.

Even if Godwin only fetches a seventh-rounder, general manager Jason Licht should pull the trigger. At 3-6 heading into the bye week, the Bucs are going nowhere in the playoffs with this horrible passing game – even if they somehow win the division at 8-9. Godwin has been a non-factor this year, so his presence likely won’t be missed on Sundays.

Bucs WR Chris Godwin Jr. – Photo by: IMAGN Images via Reuters Connect

If Licht can trade defensive tackle Vita Vea before Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. ET he should do it, although I don’t think that will ultimately happen. Extending the 31-year-old Vea through the 2027 season was dumb, especially when the team held all the leverage. Vea wasn’t going to hold out during the season and he should have been forced to play out his contract year – just like franchise wide receiver Mike Evans had to do twice since 2023. Vea is clearly on the downside of his career and players usually don’t get better as they get older.

While the stat sheet doesn’t always tell the story for defensive tackles, Vea has just 18 tackles and one sack through nine games this year and has not made the type of impact one would expect a $30 million defensive tackle to make. Not even close. Vea might fetch a third-round pick, and if Licht can get that, he should take it.

Bucs GM Jason Licht – Photo by: Jeffrey Jones/PR

Also, trading outside linebacker Yaya Diaby might be in this team’s best interest if the Bucs don’t have any plans on re-signing the hit-and-miss pass rusher. Diaby, who is recovering from a mild knee injury, might fetch a fourth-round pick.

With a massive $21.025 million salary and little production to back it up, don’t expect safety Antoine Winfield Jr. to be in high demand on the trade market over the next 24 hours, especially since suffering a nasty ankle injury in Chicago on Sunday night.

QUESTION 2. Is Emeka Egbuka A Bust?

It certainly seems like it, doesn’t it? After returning from a foot injury that cost him the last two games, Emeka Egbuka continued his streak of incredibly mediocre play. Egbuka had three catches for 38 yards in Chicago, another pedestrian game for the former first-round pick.

Egbuka looked like he might score a touchdown on a 21-yard screen pass, but he was tracked down by Bears Pro Bowl defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons.

That’s not exactly ideal, right? A supposed No. 1 wide receiver being chased down and caught by a defensive tackle.

Now a year and a half into his Tampa Bay career, Egbuka certainly looks like he was over-drafted, as he’s come nowhere close to playing like a first-rounder since the first nine games of rookie season. After his last 100-yard game, which came exactly a year ago against New England in a 27-24 loss on November 9, Egbuka caught just 23 passes for 261 yards (11.3 avg.) down the stretch to close out his rookie campaign.

Bucs WR Emeka Egbuka – Photo by: IMAGN Images via Reuters Connect

This year in seven games, Egbuka has only 31 receptions for 278 yards (9.0 avg.) and two touchdowns.

Meanwhile, Matthew Golden, the speedy receiver out of Texas that was drafted four spots later by Green Bay, has caught 53 passes for 783 yards (14.8 avg.) and five touchdowns this year after a relatively quiet rookie season. Bears receiver Luther Burden III, the next receiver taken in the 2025 NFL Draft with the 39th overall pick, has 49 catches for 644 yards (13.1 avg.) and four touchdowns this year, including a 56-yard catch-and-run against the Bucs on Sunday Night Football.

There is no doubt that the Bucs need a true, No. 1 wide receiver next year, as it’s certainly not Egbuka.

2 BOLD PREDICTIONS QUESTIONS

PREDICTION 1. The Bucs Will Keep It Interesting

The 2026 NFL season is a season of the haves and the have-nots. This year’s NFL consists of the rich and the poor, without much of a middle class. There are 16 teams, including 3-6 Tampa Bay, that have losing records, and 12 teams that are already three games above .500 this year.

Because of how bad the NFC South is right now with 3-5 Carolina and New Orleans having a half-game lead over the Bucs and Falcons, both of whom have 3-6 records, the division I refer to as “Crap Hill” won’t be won until the very end of the year – again – and likely by a team with an 8-9 record – again. That team just may be the Buccaneers thanks to their defense, but of course Tampa Bay won’t go far in the playoffs with this putrid offense.

But look for the Bucs to keep it interesting into January by beating teams that are just as bad if not worse in the weeks after the bye – following a loss at Detroit in Week 11, of course.

PREDICTION 2. Bucs Move On From Todd Bowles Next Year

Todd Bowles, the defensive coordinator, has been outstanding this year. It’s amazing what an influx of talent can do, as with more talent, Bowles looks far better as a defensive play-caller this season. The problem for Bowles is that he’s not just the team’s defensive play-caller. He’s the head coach of a 3-6 football team with an overall record of 38-39 now in his fifth season in Tampa Bay.

Bucs HC Todd Bowles – Photo by: Jeffrey Jones/PR

Bowles also presides over a Buccaneers offense that ranks 18th in the league, averaging just 22.4 points per game under Zac Robinson, who was handpicked by Bowles after he made offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard last year’s scapegoat. Bowles fired Grizzard in order for him to keep his job. Do you know how many points Grizzard’s offense averaged in 2025? Oh yeah, an identical 22.4 points per game.

While the Buccaneers defense has shown massive improvement, the offense has not. And after picking some gems at offensive coordinator in Dave Canales in 2023 and Liam Coen in 2024, Bowles’ last two offensive play-callers haven’t been nearly good enough.

The Glazers have to come to their senses and realize that they cannot allow Bowles the chance to pick a fifth offensive coordinator. Because like last year when the Bucs were 8-9, no really good coordinator will want to come to Tampa Bay because of Bowles’ lack of job security.