Five Questions with Bucs Nation: Will another QB find success vs Chicago?

Week one for the Chicago Bears was rather forgettable.

After a 38 to 20 drubbing by the Green Bay Packers, the Bears look to pivot away from that poor showing and rebound against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Bears will hit the road and travel to Florida for this one and DraftKings currently has them as a 3-point underdog.

What should the Bears be prepared for against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers? We sat down with Evan Wanish from Bucs Nation to get the latest on a Bucs team that has surprisingly started off 1-0.

1. The Bucs surprised a lot of people going into Minnesota and beating the Vikings. Minnesota beat Tampa on paper in most categories except for turnovers where Tampa had a massive edge 3-0. Were the Bucs outplayed in this game or has Todd Bowles found a recipe for success with this team?

The Bucs were definitely outplayed in certain areas of this game. The Vikings had 369 yards of total offense while the Buccaneers only had 242. I think the answer to your question can be a bit of both. While they were outplayed in certain areas, Bowles was able to find a way to draw up designs that forced turnovers and kept the Vikings from really blowing the game open at times. Simply put though, the Bucs know they need a better performance than the one they just got if they want to remain competitive this season.

2. Most fans and experts thought the Bucs had a solid roster but had a huge issue at quarterback with Baker Mayfield. How would you assess his week one performance?

I think Mayfield just did his job in week 1. It was nothing spectacular or overly flashy but it worked. It started out not so good but the touchdown drive right before halftime really sparked this team and Mayfield never looked back from there. The big thing that I noticed and was encouraged by was no turnovers. It is something that Mayfield has struggled with throughout his career so it was nice to see him have a turnover free game and make a few clutch plays both with his arm and his legs down the stretch to the ice the game.

3. The Bears offensive line really struggled in week one giving up 35 pressures to the Green Bay Packers defense. What do you expect from Todd Bowles to exploit the Bears’ offensive line and get after quarterback Justin Fields?

I expect Bowles to blitz his defense a ton. He did last week in Minnesota and it worked tremendously well. The one thing I would caution Bowles to do though is limit how much they blitz simply because Fields can escape those blitzes a bit better than a guy like Kirk Cousins can. Expect the Tampa defense to be aggressive and attack this Bears offensive line, even if it results in a few big plays being given up.

4. Will Mike Evans remain on the Bucs roster for the entire season or should fans expect him to be traded as the deadline approaches?

I fully believe and expect Mike Evans to remain a Buccaneer for the remainder of the season. One of the reasons is I’m just not sure the Bucs will be bad enough to have it make sense to trade your best offensive player and also I do believe they want to keep Evans around despite not getting a deal done before the deadline set by his agency. Whatever happens in the offseason will happen, but as for this season I’d be shocked if Evans went anywhere.

5. Looking at the DraftKings site, do you have a favorite player prop for the game?

We just saw Aaron Jones have a big day with 2 catches against this Bears defense, one going for a 51 yard touchdown so I am going to go with Rachaad White over 17.5 receiving yards. White got off to a slow start in Minnesota on the ground and in the receiving game but I expect that to change and him to get more involved in both the run and passing game this Sunday.

Week two is usually a bit early to call anything a “must-win game.” But for the Chicago Bears, with a trip to Arrowhead in week three against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs, a win on Sunday in Tampa is critical if the Bears have any hope of pushing for a playoff spot this season.

And as always, if you want to place a little wager on the game, our friends at DraftKings Sportsbook has you covered.