Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Chicago Bears: Week 4 game preview
By Erik Lambert
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Chicago Bears game in week 4 of the season might be one of the hardest to gauge among the biggest matchups.
It’s one of those strength-on-strength situations. The high-flying Buccaneers offense going against the rough and tough Bears defense. Which will be the one to establish their dominance? The rules certainly favor the Bucs in this situation but the Bears are already a battle-tested bunch. They’ve gone against some really good quarterbacks already this season in Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson.
So it’s not like they’ve feasted on cupcakes so far this year. This is the sort of games where it may come down to the unheralded players who make the plays to win. Here is a breakdown of what to expect.
STORYLINES
How long will the FItzmagic last? – Journeyman quarterbacks in their mid-30s aren’t supposed to set NFL records. At least not in a positive sense. Yet Ryan Fitzpatrick has done just that, posting three-straight games over 400 yards passing. He’s been excellent so far this year, but critics aren’t buying him long-term. They feel it’s inevitable that he’ll crash back to earth at some point. It’s just a matter of when. With Jameis Winston back, things could get interesting.
The waiting game on Mitch Trubisky – Chicago knows they have a great defense and a strong rushing attack. They look like a team that can make a run. The problem is their weak link, as per usual, is at quarterback. Mitch Trubisky has struggled to adapt to the new system under Matt Nagy. He looks tentative and a bit overwhelmed at times. Nagy doesn’t seem surprised by it, but it’s still something they have to figure out if this team wants to achieve its goals.