Thursday night we watched Nick Foles get the best of Tom Brady yet again, but this time was a little different. Both quarterbacks were under center for different squads than the ones they helped take to Super Bowl LII. In his five times facing off against the Chicago Bears as a New England Patriot, Tom Brady was 5-0, but his first time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers went just a tad different.
In what turned out to be a rather messy game for the Buccaneers, it started off about as smoothly as you could ask for offensively. Tampa Bay moved down the field pretty much however they liked, and went into the second quarter with a 10-0 lead.
Carlton Davis picked off his third pass of the season, setting up for the first touchdown on the night courtesy of Mike Evans via Tom Brady. Ronald Jones was even robbed of a touchdown from the refs, but that couldn’t stop them from breaking down Chicago’s defense.
The game looked to be in good control until the two minute warning, then all hell broke loose for Tampa Bay. Nick Foles led the Bears down the field on a 10-play drive that would be capped off with a 3-yard David Montgormery touchdown run. Just four plays later Kyle Fuller completely lays out rookie running back Ke’Shawn Vaughn, creating a turnover and giving the ball right back to Chicago. Four more plays and a 12-yard Jimmy Graham touchdown reception later and suddenly the Bears have a 14-13 lead heading into halftime.
Chicago would attempt to carry the momentum from the last few minutes of the first half in the second, but they would fail to score. Tampa Bay kicked a field goal to retake the lead 16-14, and then things started to get ugly.
There would be a total of nine penalties called in just the third quarter alone, including a span of four in a row for the Buccaneers. Khalil Mack turned on his next gear with a vicious sack in the early third quarter.
For the first time in a while the Chicago Bears can say they have a reliable kicker on the team. It was time for him to shine once the fourth quarter rolled around. Cairo Santos and Ryan Succop traded kicks but Santos ultimately was able to get the last attempt. The Bears asked Santos to finish a nine-play drive with a 38-yard field goal, and he delivered.
After taking a 20-19 lead Tom Brady uncharacteristically had a brain fart during clutch time. After failing to convert his fourth down pass attempt Tom Brady looked over to the sideline for the next play, seemingly forgetting that it was fourth down. Tampa would turn the ball over on downs, thus ending the game for the Brady Bunch.
It wasn’t his prettiest performance but Nick Foles still walked away with the victory. He finished the game with 243 passing yards, a touch down and an interception with a completion percentage of 71%. Tom Brady put up a very similar stat line as well, though just out performing Foles according to QBR. Brady completed 61% of his passes for 253 yards and a single touchdown.
Ronald Jones led the game in rushing with 106 yards on 17 carries; as well as recording three receptions for 19 yards. David Montgomery had a much different night with only 29 rushing yards on 10 carries. On the bright side he did reach the end zone once, and hauled in seven catches for 30 yards. One of those receptions could have been the play of the game as he caught a pass from Nick Foles setting up the game winning field goal.
Allen Robinson had 10 catches for 90 yards, and Jimmy Graham had three receptions and a touchdown. Rookie wide receiver, Tyler Johnson, led the Bucs with four catches for 61 yards. Cameron Brate had a team high five receptions in the place of injured O.J. Howard.
Heading into Week 6 the Chicago Bears are facing the 2-2 Carolina Panthers at Bank of America Stadium. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are set to face a white-hot, 4-0, Green Bay Packers team at Raymond James Stadium.
