Bears and Buccaneers TV, Radio, Streaming
Chicago Bears (3-3) at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5-1)
Kickoff: 3:25 p.m. Sunday, Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Fla.
TV: CBS (Jim Nantz, Tony Romo, Tracy Wolfson)
TV Streaming: CBS on fuboTV, free trial
Radio: WBBM AM-780, FM-105.9 (Jeff Joniak, Tom Thayer, Mark Grote)
Spanish Radio: TUDN AM-1200, Latino Mix FM-93.5 (Omar Ramos, Miguel Esparza)
The line: Buccaneers by 12 (over/under 47). Betting information at SI.com
BearDigest.com Pick: Buccaneers 27, Bears 9
BearDigest Record to date: 5-1 (6-0 vs. the spread)
The Series: The Bears and Buccaneers meet for the 61st time. The Bears lead the series 40-20 and won the last two games including in 2020 at Soldier Field 20-19 behind Nick Foles. The Bears won at Soldier Field in 2018 48-10. Tampa's last win was in 2017 at Raymond James Stadium
The Coaches: Bears coach Matt Nagy is 31-23 in his fourth season and 2-0 against Tampa Bay.
Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians is 81-48-1, including 23-15 in his third year with Tampa Bay. He is 1-2 against the Bears, including 0-1 against a Matt Nagy-coached Bears team.
Last Week: The Bears lost at Soldier Field 24-14 to Green Bay, scoring on a 5-yard Justin Fields touchdown pass to Darnell Mooney in the fourth quarter to pull within 17-14, only to allow Green Bay to score on the ensuing drive.
Tampa Bay defeated Philadelphia 28-22 as the defense held Jalen Hurts to 115 yards passing and the Eagles to 100 yards rushing, the most yards the Eagles have given up on the ground in any game this season. Quarterback Tom Brady went 34 of 42 for 297 yards with two TDs and an interception.
Injuries: The Bears are without DE Akiem Hicks (groin), edge rusher Robert Quinn (COVID-19), safety Tashaun Gipson (hip), TE Jimmy Graham (COVID) and RB David Montgomery (IR, knee).
Tampa Bay will not have WR Antonio Brown, TE Rob Gronkowski, LB Lavonte David and CB Richard Sherman.
What to watch: The Bears face the defending world champions trying to avoid losing consecutive games for the first time this season. Justin Fields makes his fifth NFL start and has two TD passes and three interceptions and will have a dual backfield this week as Damian Williams returns at running back after a stay on the reserve/COVID-19 list. He'll team with rookie Khalil Herbert, who had 97 yards last week in his first start. Tampa Bay's only loss came to the L.A. Rams, the team that beat the Bears in the opener. Brady at 44 years of age is second in the NFL in touchdown passes (17) and is starting to get Leonard Fournette more involved in the offense as he has recorded 100 yards or more from the line of scrimmage in three straight games. The Bears are tied for the NFL lead in sacks with 21 while the Buccaneers have allowed only nine, the fourth-best total in the league.
Matching Up: The Bears are 32nd (last) in offense, 32nd in passing and ninth in rushing. They are seventh on defense, ninth against the pass and 16th against the run.
Tampa Bay is third on offense, first passing and 28th rushing. The Buccaneers are ninth on defense, 27th against the pass and first against the run.
Notable: Bears linebacker Roquan Smith is fourth in the NFL with 62 tackles. ... Cairo Santos' streak of 34 straight field goals is the longest current streak in the league. ... Khalil Mack has at least half a sack in 30 games with the Bears. ... When Mack gets at least half a sack, the Bears are 21-9. ... The Buccaneers rank fourth in the league at takeaways over the last three seasons, since Todd Bowles became defensive coordinator. ... A 100-yard game from scrimmage would be the fourth in a row for Fournette, tying him for the fourth-longest streak in team history. ... Brady has won 77% of his games, the best in the NFL during the Super Bowl era (235-70). Roger Staubach is second (.745, 85-29). ... Brady has the most wins in history by a QB after the age of 40 (52). Second is 17 by Drew Brees. ... Since entering the NFL in 2014, Mike Evans is second in touchdown catches in the league with 65. Injured teammate Antonio Brown is first (68). ... DT Ndamukong Suh owns the current longest NFL streak for consecutive starts (153).
Key Individual Matchups
Bears RT Elijah Wilkinson vs. Bucs Edge Rusher Shaquil Barrett
Barrett hasn't been quite the sack monster he was the first year the Buccaneers got him from Denver as a cheaper, low-level free agent, a move the Bears very easily could have made at the time to complement Khalil Mack but didn't. However, he's still a force and starting to heat up with three sacks in his last three games after making one in his first three. Barrett commands a 79.7 Pro Football Focus grade, 16th of the edge rushers they've graded this year and he has 11 pressures this year after making 42 last year. Barrett is familiar with Wilkinson because they were teammates in Denver in 2017 and 2018 but they usually weren't facing each other. Wilkinson was a guard in 2018 and didn't play much in 2017. Wilkinson looked strong in the running game against Green Bay and Las Vegas after coming in to replace injured Germain Ifedi. Whether he can hold up for an entire game against a top-level pass rusher is a different situation considering Green Bay lost Preston Smith to injury during the game last week and the Raiders were behind and on their heels all game.
Bears Edge Trevis Gipson vs. Bucs LT Donovan Smith
With Robert Quinn on the reserve/COVID-19 list, the Bears pass rush takes a severe hit and will be playing a second-year edge rusher in his place. Gipson has made sacks in two of the last three games and after a slow start has earned superb PFF marks in limited time, 87 defensive plays on the year. This is the problem. He's very raw and is facing a respected 28-year-old tackle. Gipson had the advantage of being a reserve relieving a veteran when he replaced Quinn. Now he'll be on the field most. In preseason he looked especially susceptible to the running game. Smith is graded by PFF as the seventh-best tackle this year, the highest by far he has ever been in their eyes. He'd always been a bit of an underachieving tackle as a second-round pick with PFF grades far lower than Charles Leno Jr. That was before coach Bruce Arians and Brady were on the scene, with grades well below Charles Leno Jr. Smith has allowed one sack this year after giving up four last year and has four penalties.
Bears CB Kindle Vildor vs. Bucs WR Chris Godwin
After a shaky start, Vildor has shown some improvement at avoiding the big play as the season has progressed. His completion percentage allowed is still abnormally high for a starting cornerback at 78.3% (18 completions in 23 targets) and it's for a passer rating of 153.7. He's also been saddled with three TD passes allowed, but one of those seemed more of a group effort than his own fault. Vildor remains fairly dependable as a tackler in a secondary where tackling seems to be an issue. He has three missed tackles in 22 attempts. Godwin has a physical advantage of three inches and 19 pounds on Vildor and the Bucs will use him effectively on back-shoulder throws and deep balls. Brady hasn't been able to get him the deep ball this year, and his longest catch is 28 yards while his yards per catch (12.0) is lower than any other season in his career. Still, he is making plenty of catches, with 34 in six games.
Bears C Sam Mustipher vs. Bucs DT Vita Vea
Vea has been decimating the interior of offensive lines with a push against the run and also the pass. He's not especially a pass rusher but has 1 1/2 sacks and had one last year against the Bears. At 6-4, 347, he's a load for any lineman to handle and there have always been questions about Mustipher's ability to stand up to stronger interior defensive lineman because he came into the league at a much lower weight, although he has added over 20 pounds since then.
Bears DE Bilal Nichols vs. Buccaneers RG Alex Cappa
With Akiem Hicks out (groin) it's up to Nichols to hold down the inside. He is suffering from a knee injury and may be limited health-wise, if he's even able to play. When healthy, Nichols is an athletic big man who can be a force against the run and in pass rush. Cappa is in his third year as a starter and Hicks had one of his better games last year playing against him in the 20-19 victory at Soldier Field by the Bears. Cappa has a 61.8 blocking grade from PFF and at 6-6, 305, is a bit lean to be battling someone with the lower body strength of Nichols. This is an area of the line to probe with blitzes by Roquan Smith, as well.
Bears WR Darnell Mooney vs. Buccaneers CB Dee Delaney
Whatever happened to that vaunted Tampa Bay secondary that looked so dominant in the playoffs? They're 28th against the pass this year but it's because of all the injuries they've suffered in the secondary. Delaney will have a large role on defense only because of those injuries. Richard Sherman will miss the game due to injury and both Carlton Davis III and Sean Murphy-Bunting are on injured reserve. Delaney is a player who barely made their roster and played for Jacksonville and Washington. He's given up two touchdown passes in only limited snaps this season and eight completions in 10 targets. The Bears are trying to move receivers to different spots in the offense and anticipate they'll try to move Mooney into the slot and take advantage of Delaney at times. Mooney is leading the Bears in receptions with 25 and average per catch (12.2 yards) and they'd like to get him downfield more than last year. He already has a 64-yard catch and appears to have taken another step up beyond his outstanding rookie year.
Bears TE Cole Kmet vs. Buccaneers S Mike Edwards
The Buccaneers will likely turn to Edwards again due to safety injuries but something may have happened last week in the development of Kmet that could boost the Bears greatly in coming weeks. He started to catch some passes downfield. They need a tight end to challenge downfield, especially against Tampa's safeties, because both of them are short. Edwards is 5-foot-10 and Antoine Winfield Jr. 5-9. Kmet is 6-6 and could win post-up battles downfield if Justin Fields has the chance to go there with the ball. The Bears should have lofty ambitions in the passing game and try to take advantage of the lack of height in Tampa Bay's safeties if they can get the time to throw. Tampa Bay has been particularly vulnerable to receptions over the middle by tight ends all season.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
