As Tampa Bay head coach Dirk Koetter stated following the game, no one played well enough to win on Sunday and everyone involved in the Chicago debacle deserved to be fired. Here is a long list of disappointing players from the Bucs’ 48-10 loss to the Bears, dropping them to 2-2 with their bye week coming next Sunday.

Bucs Secondary
It started early and rarely let up. Little pass rush. Bad run fits. And Bears receivers, running backs and tight ends running completely free in the secondary. Safety Justin Evans was victimized first giving up 39-yard TD to tight end Trey Burton to get the Bears on the board early. While he slipped on the turf, there really is no excuse. The Bucs players are on the field two hours before kickoff to warmup and test field conditions. Maybe the equipment staff deserves to be on the list as well.

The rookie cornerbacks, Carlton Davis and M.J. Stewart, really struggled after showing some improvement since the Saints game, and were victimized often in the game as it appeared to be complete and utter confusion at times. Without knowing the calls, some of the breakdown could even be pinned on the linebackers, particularly with the receivers coming out of the backfield.

Veteran Brent Grimes was a liability against the pass and the run and was benched at halftime for third-year cornerback Ryan Smith, who played better in the second half than Grimes did in the first half.

Giving up 354 yards passing and six touchdowns to second-year quarterback Mitch Trubisky is simply inexcusable.

Bucs Coaching
If defensive coordinator Mike Smith was on the hot seat before this game, he might need to call the fire department after. The hot seat has become an incinerator at this point. The defense made an okay quarterback look like the second coming of Dan Marino or Tom Brady as the Bucs defense gave up six touchdown passes. Six – to Mitchell Trubisky. Besides the poor pass coverage, the Bucs defense didn’t do a lot better against the run, allowing 139 yards on 31 carries (4.5 avg.).

But it wasn’t just the defensive staff, Dirk Koetter and his coaches were nearly as bad, making questionable personnel groupings. Why in world would Ronald Jones be in the game in a critical situation in the first half when the Bucs were fighting to keep their heads above water? Jones dropped a simple swing pass on second down inside the red zone that probably at least gets a first down. The next play quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick wildly misfired a pass in the end zone to O.J. Howard and Tampa Bay had to settle for a field goal.

Assistant coaches can’t be let off the hook either. George Warhop did not have his guys ready to face the Bears defense, who relentlessly pressured both quarterbacks all afternoon.

There will need to be some serious soul searching over the next week and maybe even a “Come to Jesus” meeting among the staff, and also the players. All of the dew from the first two weeks is officially off the bloom.

QB Ryan Fitzpatrick – Photo by: Mary Holt/PR

Bucs Offensive Line
Overall the offensive line play was poor, and all five guys took turns being bad from time to time. Even left guard Ali Marpet, who has been the most consistent lineman early in the season had a sub-par day. Right tackle Demar Dotson drew the short straw and had to take on Khalil Mack for much of the game, and as one would expect, the best defensive player in the league had a dominant first half in particular with a strip sack forced fumble, and was responsible for Winston’s first interception of the game when he hit Winston’s arm on the first drive in the second half.

Besides the porous pass protection the Bucs had zero running threat, managing just 60 yards on the afternoon.

G Caleb Benenoch
Still young and raw, the inexperience showed up early and often for Benenoch who allowed two sacks on the afternoon. The Bucs hoped Benenoch would play well enough to take over the starting role full-time, but that hasn’t been the case and now has given up at least one sack in three straight games, platooning with Evan Smith.

LB Kwon Alexander
None of the linebackers played well but when your middle linebacker only manages two tackles against a team that ran the ball 31 times and gained 139 yards, you know it wasn’t a good afternoon. Alexander and Lavonte David both were victimized in pass coverage at times.

DT Gerald McCoy
On first watch Gerald McCoy didn’t stand out. In fact on the stat sheet he only registered two assists. McCoy has been nursing a couple nagging injuries, which may have affected his performance somewhat and he did make a few plays in the first half where he was able to get some pressure on Mitch Trubisky, but failed to get a sack. As one of the veterans and multi-million dollars earners on the defensive line, the Bucs need more from McCoy. And he would probably be the first to tell you the same thing.