Baker Mayfield is a chaos quarterback. One play, he looks like he’s on his way to joining the elite ranks of the NFL at the most difficult position in professional sports. The next, he’s an inexperienced signal-caller with little to no feel of what’s around him inside the pocket.

Sunday, a 33-27 defeat to the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 1, we saw both sides of Mayfield as a quarterback. The highs, the lows, and everything in between. Mayfield put the ball on the ground an astounding three times against a Cincinnati defense that was dreadful in 2025, though entered 2026 retooled with the notable additions of defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence and outside linebacker Boye Mafe. Mayfield now has 35 fumbles since joining the Bucs in 2023, the most of any quarterback in the NFL.

In total, the Bucs committed four turnovers against the Bengals as running back Bucky Irving had another costly fumble show up on the stat sheet for Tampa Bay. It’s hard to win in the NFL when you turn it over at that rate and lose the turnover battle — in this case — 4-1. Mayfield, to his credit, took full responsibility for the loss.

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

“This one falls on me,” Mayfield said after the game. “I mean, they had I think 17 points alone off my turnovers. Turns out to be a one-score game. Offensively, it’s frustrating when you do something like that when you’re moving the ball up and down the field. But if we get that fixed, if I get that fixed and make those corrections, we’ll be alright.”

Baker Mayfield Has A Major Fumbling Issue

Mayfield’s first of three fumbles on the day set a negative tone for the Bucs’ offense and put them in chase mode, something they couldn’t undo throughout a steamy afternoon in Cincinnati. Facing third-and-9 with 6:18 remaining in the first quarter and the Bucs holding a 3-0 lead, Mayfield expertly escaped a sack after right tackle Luke Goedeke got beat handily off the snap. That’s the good.

The bad is that Mayfield immediately stepped into new pressure and rather than throwing it away, was sacked from behind by outside linebacker Myles Murphy as he failed to keep two hands on the ball. Mayfield coughed up the ball and linebacker Demetrius Knight Jr. scooped it up and took it back the other way for six.

After Mayfield’s first fumble and Irving’s on the next drive both led to points, the Bucs were suddenly in a 14-3 hole. But Tampa Bay came right back on its first drive in the second quarter and quickly got down to the Cincinnati 12-yard line. The Bucs needed points there — preferably seven — but came away with zero. Why? Mayfield again evaded a sack and took off for the first down inside the five-yard line.

But Mayfield had his sights on the end zone and tried to get more of what was there. Linebacker Barrett Carter punched the ball out, and the Bengals recovered. The Bengals proceeded to embark on a 12-play, 80-yard scoring drive to take a commanding 21-3 lead.

The best of Mayfield was present on Tampa Bay’s next drive. He went 5-of-5 for 60 yards on a six-play, 75-yard scoring drive which ended in a 10-yard touchdown run by Irving. Again, another example of drive-by-drive, play-by-play when it comes to Mayfield.

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

Unfortunately for the Bucs, Mayfield’s miscues didn’t end there. The tides began to shift after rookie linebacker Josiah Trotter jumped a pass intended for wide receiver Andrei Iosivas and ran it back for the first pick-six of his career, cutting the lead to 27-20 with a whole quarter of football to play.

When Mayfield and co. got the ball back — now down 10 after Tampa Bay’s defense surrendered a field goal on Cincinnati’s next drive after the pick-six — he held onto the ball for far too long before Mafe came from behind and hit him. Again, Mayfield put the ball on the ground and Cincinnati recovered. They got a field goal out of the turnover, further putting the game out of reach for Tampa Bay. Mayfield had a whopping five seconds to get rid of it before Mafe eventually broke free of left tackle Tristan Wirfs.

“It’s just the internal time clock and knowing if that clocks going off in your head, keeping two hands on the ball in the pocket, that needs to be the emphasis,” Mayfield said. “I thought I checked the ball down a decent amount today but at a certain point in the game, it’s still ball security is the most important thing.”

It was a disastrous sequence for a 31-year-old quarterback who earlier this week signed a three-year, $165 million extension to remain the Bucs’ face of the franchise for the foreseeable future. Mayfield knows better than to hold the ball that long before dirting it. At this point in his career, he should know.

But Mayfield is a chaos quarterback. Chaos encompasses multiple forms of good and bad. Even though head coach Todd Bowles and the rest of the Bucs’ organization have preached about Mayfield learning to be less reckless when he doesn’t have to be, this is who he is. And 60 minutes into the 2026 season, it doesn’t appear he’s deviating away from that.